President Karzai Begins 2-Day Pakistan Visit

Islamabad, Feb 16, IRNA -- lAfghan President Hamid Karzai arrived in Islamabad on Thursday on a two-day state visit for bilateral talks and to attend a trilateral summit, officials said. Minister for States and Frontier Regions Engineer Shaukatullah, senior officials and Afghan diplomats received the Afghan president on arrival in Islamabad, state television reported. President Karzai is accompanied by members of his Core Policy Group that include the Foreign Minister, National Security Advisor and his Chief of Staff, the Afghan embassy said. Karzai will meet President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani during his two-day visit, officials said. This is the second visit of President Karzai to Pakistan in eight months. He last visited Pakistan in June weeks after the US military killed Osama bin Laden in a raid in Abbotabad. The visit of President marks revival of high level contacts between the two countries that were suspended following the assassination of Afghan peace envoy Prof. Burhanuddin Rabbani in September. President Karzai will also represent Afghanistan in the trilateral summit with Pakistani and Iranian presidents. The three Presidents will have two sessions, one Thursday in the evening and the second on Friday. A joint communique will be issued at the conclusion of the trilateral summit, adding the trilateral summit will focus on economic issues. The Afghanistan-Iran-Pakistan trilateral forum could not meet in November in the wake of the assassination of Burhanuddin Rabbani in September. Afghanistan had refused to attend the summit in October when Iranian President proposed the meeting to bring the Afghan and Pakistan leaders to the negotiation table in the wake of Rabbani's killing./end