New Delhi fears any Afghan plan to broker a deal with the Taliban will undermine its security and give rival Pakistan greater influence there. Pakistan, one of a handful of countries that recognised the Taliban regime before the U.S. invasion in 2001, is seen as a key player in any plan for reconciliation.
"We discussed... reintegration and reconciling of those elements of the Taliban and others who have accepted the Afghan Constitution, who are not part of al Qaeda, who are not part of any terrorist network," Karzai said after talks with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Karzai has proposed a plan to reintegrate low-level fighters back into Afghan society and also sought to reconcile with senior insurgents provided they give up weapons.
An immediate breakthrough is unlikely, analysts say, pointing to previous offers to re-integrate fighters that failed to make much progress. The Taliban have also rejected any offer of talks saying foreign forces must first leave Afghanistan.
"The prime minister and I discussed the situation in Afghanistan, the situation in the region and our common struggle against terrorism and extremism," Karzai said reading from a statement.
Karzai will be travelling to Bhutan on Tuesday to attend a regional summit where the prime ministers of India and Pakistan will also be present and could meet, Indian Foreign Minister S.M. Krishna said on Monday.
"I am not ruling it out," the state-run Doordarshan channel quoted him as saying in Thimphu, the capital of Bhutan, of a possible meeting between the leaders of India and Pakistan.
The rivalry between India and Pakistan has extended to Afghanistan where the two are battling for influence.
New Delhi saw a militant attack on a Kabul guest house that killed six Indians in February as a signal of efforts to reduce New Delhi's influence in Afghanistan. It was the third major attack against Indian interests in two years.
"I conveyed to President Karzai that the perpetrators of such attacks will not succeed in undermining India's commitment to assist the Afghan people," Singh said in his statement.
Pakistan denies any involvement and in turn accuses India of using Afghan territory to destabilise its troubled Baluchistan region.
New Delhi has several developmental projects in Afghanistan, including construction of power lines and highways worth $1.3 billion.
Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani, the pakistan PM told a news conference that the main reason for the shortage is that past governments failed to anticipate growth in demand and delayed implementing power and dam projects that would have boosted output.
Moreover, mogul Lalit Modi the head of India's $4 billion cricket premier league was removed from his post on Monday after a scandal that has ensnared top politicians and strained the ruling coalition.
Lastly, insurgency in kashmir continues, marches agaist the death sentences of 1996 Lajpat nagar prisoners, police clashes with the youth and ban on islamic channels still continues.
If main reason for the shortage is past governments, then what current gov doing. What they do in 3 years???
ReplyDeleteOn how many dams the start work????