Kerry to host meeting of top Afghan, Pakistani officials

PanARMENIAN.Net - Secretary of State John Kerry said Monday, April 22 he would host a meeting of top Afghan and Pakistani officials this week in Brussels to discuss reconciliation with the Taliban and other issues, according to The Associated Press.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai and his defense minister, along with Pakistan’s military chief and foreign secretary, will attend Wednesday’s meeting, Kerry said.

“I will be meeting with President Karzai and General (Ashfaq Parvez) Kayani and the civilian foreign minister from Pakistan while I am here,” Kerry told reporters.

He said the goal was to advance the peace process “in the simplest most, most cooperative, most cogent way so that we wind up with both Pakistan’s and Afghanistan’s interests being satisfied but most importantly with a peaceful and stable Afghanistan, which is worth the expenditure and the treasure and effort of these last years.”

Afghanistan accused Pakistan earlier this month of placing unacceptable conditions on efforts to bring peace to the country after nearly 12 years of war, the latest in a series of barbed exchanges that has sunk relations between the two neighbors to a new low.

Luring the Taliban to the negotiating table is a key goal of the United States and its allies as they work for a peaceful solution in Afghanistan ahead of the final pullout of foreign combat forces in 20 months.

Kerry is in Brussels to attend a NATO foreign ministers meeting on Tuesday. He will also meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and various European officials.