Zardari postpones Kabul trip
Saturday, 20 December 2008
KABUL, Dec 19 (AFP): Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari today was forced to postpone a trip to Afghanistan for talks with his counterpart Hamid Karzai on the anti-terror fight due to bad weather, officials said.
The two leaders were due to discuss how to combat a resurgent Taliban militia that is staging deadly attacks on both sides of the rugged common border, but Zardari was unable to leave Pakistan.
The Pakistani leader -- who was to have made his first official visit to Afghanistan since taking office three months ago -- said he hoped to reschedule the trip "at an appropriate future time," Karzai's office said in a statement.
In Islamabad, a foreign ministry official confirmed the postponement of the trip, without specifying whether a new date had been set.
Islamabad and Kabul, allies in the US-led "war on terror", are struggling to rein in Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants who have been holed up in Pakistan's lawless tribal areas since the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001.
"Pakistan attaches a high priority to forging close, friendly and cooperative relations with Afghanistan," the Pakistani foreign ministry said in a statement Thursday.
The two leaders were due to discuss how to combat a resurgent Taliban militia that is staging deadly attacks on both sides of the rugged common border, but Zardari was unable to leave Pakistan.
The Pakistani leader -- who was to have made his first official visit to Afghanistan since taking office three months ago -- said he hoped to reschedule the trip "at an appropriate future time," Karzai's office said in a statement.
In Islamabad, a foreign ministry official confirmed the postponement of the trip, without specifying whether a new date had been set.
Islamabad and Kabul, allies in the US-led "war on terror", are struggling to rein in Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants who have been holed up in Pakistan's lawless tribal areas since the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001.
"Pakistan attaches a high priority to forging close, friendly and cooperative relations with Afghanistan," the Pakistani foreign ministry said in a statement Thursday.