EurasiaNet Eurasia Insight - Afghanistan: Pakistani President to Make First Official Visit to Kabul

EURASIA INSIGHT

AFGHANISTAN: PAKISTANI PRESIDENT TO MAKE FIRST OFFICIAL VISIT TO KABUL
1/05/09

Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari is scheduled to make his first official trip to Afghanistan on January 6.

Zardari had been scheduled to travel to Kabul in mid-December, but bad weather forced a postponement, according to Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The meeting is being touted as a sign of a significant thaw in bilateral relations. The two neighbors have traded accusations in recent months in connection to the presence of Islamic militants in Pakistan’s tribal areas along the frontier with Afghanistan.

Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said, "I hope that there will be a pleasant change in the relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan, which have been strained for some time."

Zardari’s meeting with Afghan President Hamid Karzai will come a day after he met with US Assistant Secretary of State, Richard Boucher, in Islamabad. Boucher emphasized anti-terrorism measures during the discussions. Tension between India and Pakistan has deepened in the wake of the recent terror attack in Mumbai that left 164 people dead.

The Central Eurasia Project aims, through its website, meetings, papers, and grants, to foster a more informed debate about the social, political and economic developments of the Caucasus and Central Asia. It is a program of the Open Society Institute-New York. The Open Society Institute-New York is a private operating and grantmaking foundation that promotes the development of open societies around the world by supporting educational, social, and legal reform, and by encouraging alternative approaches to complex and controversial issues.

The views expressed in this publication do not necessarily represent the position of the Open Society Institute and are the sole responsibility of the author or authors.