Gen Kayani to meet Clinton in Munich

Conference to provide a venue for trilateral talks between the US, Pakistan and Afghanistan on the Afghan war.

ISLAMABAD: Chief of the Army Staff Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani and Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi will discuss the Afghan imbroglio with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Afghan President Hamid Karzai and top Nato officials in the German city of Munich, The Express Tribune has learnt.

Qureshi and Kayani will also meet other world leaders, among them foreign ministers of Russia, Germany and France, on the fringes of the international security conference which began on Friday, sources said.

“The conference, which will continue till Monday, will provide a venue for trilateral talks between the US, Pakistan and Afghanistan on the Afghan war,” the sources added.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who travelled to Munich from New Delhi, will be among the world leaders to address the conference.

In New Delhi, Karzai and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh discussed the Afghan situation and the role of Pakistan, according to the Indian media. The two leaders discussed a host of issues, with particular reference to the “common threat of terrorism”.

They agreed that the strategic partnership between India and Afghanistan is a ‘positive factor’ for peace and stability in the region, said a joint statement issued after their meeting.

Singh raised the issue of security of the Indian nationals in Afghanistan. He is also reported to have understood his country’s concerns over President Karzai’s reintegration plan and reiterated New Delhi’s position on ‘Afghan-led and Afghan-owned’ peace deal.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 5^th, 2011.