Istanbul, Nov 1 (ANI): Turkish officials have said that Pakistan and Afghanistan can use the sixth trilateral summit to hold dialogue and end the blame game over a series of militant attacks that have deepened their mutual mistrust.
Presidents of the three countries meet on Tuesday as Afghanistan enters a critical phase in its transition, with the United States planning to pull its combat troops out by the end of 2014, and some Western countries already withdrawing theirs, the Daily Times reports.
Relations between Islamabad and Kabul have been soured because of a decade-old Taliban insurgency problem, with Afghan officials publicly airing suspicions that Pakistani intelligence is supporting the Taliban and the Haqqani network, an insurgent group allied to the Taliban.
Many Afghans believe Pakistan is supporting Taliban in order to regain influence in Kabul once Western forces leave.
Noting a deteriorating regional environment, a Turkish official said: "Now is perhaps the time to try to reverse the course."
"We sense that they have a genuine wish to talk to each other because they realise this trend is not helping either of them," the official said before the summit of the three Presidents, Afghanistan's Hamid Karzai, Pakistan's Asif Zardari and their Turkish host Abdullah Gul.
There has been a flurry of speculation about drawing Taliban and Haqqani group into negotiations to end the fighting in Afghanistan.
Pakistan's military chief General Ashfaq Kayani will reportedly meet his Afghan counterpart on the sidelines of what will be the sixth summit between the three leaders.
The tri-lateral meeting will be followed by a regional conference on Afghanistan to be attended by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Indian Foreign Minister SM Krishna and their counterparts from France and Germany, among others. (ANI)
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