Summit seeks confidence-building measures

Leaders of Afghanistan and Pakistan, meeting in Istanbul, Turkey, agreed to pursue confidence-building measures to resolve their current bilateral tensions.The agreement reached between President Hamid Karzai, his Pakistani counterpart Asif Ali Zardari, and other officials of their governments, will include a mechanism to coordinate the investigation of the September assassination of former Afghan President Burhanuddin Rabbani in Kabul by a suicide bomber. Rabbani had headed an effort to negotiate peace with the Taliban.The Karzai-Zardari meeting was part of the trilateral summit hosted by Turkish President Abdullah Gul.Afghanistan-Pakistan relations remain tense over the Rabbani killing and accusations by the two sides over cross-border attacks by terror groups. Afghanistan has accused Pakistan's spy agency of supporting the Taliban and the Haqqani terror group, which is accused of launching attacks on Afghanistan from safe havens in Pakistan. Pakistan has denied the charge.Karzai, addressing a joint news conference after the summit, said his government had no plans to restart talks with the Taliban after the Rabbani killing, The Wall Street Journal reported."Unfortunately the assassination of President Rabbani has thrown the whole exercise into serious difficulty," Karzai said. "We have been badly hurt."There was no major breakthrough in the Karzai-Zardari talks, but the Journal said Turkish diplomats had said the summit was intended to get the leaders of the two countries to start talking again.Commenting on plans to coordinate the investigation of the Rabbani killing, Karzai said: "I hope the mechanism ...will lead us to more fruitful and in depth talks between Afghanistan and Pakistan," the Journal reported.Gul said the probe mechanism will involve the two countries' foreign ministries and their intelligence services, the Voice of America reported. No other details were provided.A spokesman quoted Zardari as telling the summit "Pakistan stands ready to assist in the restoration of stability and peace in Afghanistan" and supports "an Afghan led and Afghan-owned process of reconciliation" the state-run Associated Press of Pakistan reported.A peaceful Afghanistan is seen as crucial for U.S. and NATO plans to complete the withdrawal of forces by 2014 and the handover of Afghan security to Afghan forces.With the end of the Istanbul trilateral summit, Turkey prepared to host a broader regional meeting on Afghanistan Wednesday.