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Monday, July 26, 2010
Karzai-Kayani dialogue ‘a good thing’: Holbrooke* US policy is aimed at narrowing historic gap between Islamabad and Kabul while taking India’s strategic interests into account
WASHINGTON: Dialogue between Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Chief of Army Staff Ashfaq Kayani was “a good thing” for US objectives in the region, US envoy Richard Holbrooke said on Sunday.
The US special envoy brushed aside concerns that Karzai was seeking to cut a separate deal with Islamabad in anticipation of a US withdrawal.
He said a meeting in late May between Karzai and General Kayani was “a good thing, not a bad thing.”
“As long as they had no dialogue, you couldn’t get anywhere,” Holbrooke said.
“Now, in the Kayani-Karzai meeting, the American commanding general of ISAF, NATO was there, then General Stanley McChrystal. I’m sure General Petraeus (the current US commander) will continue to play the same role, if not more so. And I have talked to David (Petraeus) about that,” he said.
Gap: The US special envoy said the US policy was aimed at narrowing the historic gap between Islamabad and Kabul by encouraging the two countries to work together while taking India’s strategic interests into account. agencies
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk