News
Friday, July 02, 2010
Pakistan to train Afghan military
WASHINGTON: Afghan President Hamid Karzai has agreed to send a group of military officers to Pakistan for training, a significant policy shift that signals deepening relations between the neighbors, a US newspaper reported on Thursday.
“The move is a victory for Pakistan, which seeks a major role in Afghanistan,” The Washington Post said in a Kabul datelined report.
“This is meant to demonstrate confidence to Pakistan, in the hope of encouraging them to begin a serious consultation and conversation with us on the issue of the Taliban,” Rangin Dadfar Spanta, Karzai’s national security adviser, said of the training agreement.
The training would involve only a small group of officers, variously described as between a handful and a few dozen, but it has “enormous symbolic importance” as the first tangible outcome of talks between Karzai and Pakistan’s military and intelligence chiefs that began in May.
Details were still under discussion, but a senior Pakistani government official said the programme was expected to begin “soon”. app
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk