Karzai vows to improve ties with Pakistan

AFGHAN President Hamid Karzai called cross-border terrorism one of the greatest threats confronting his country and vowed yesterday to improve ties with Pakistan to combat the problem.

Speaking to a gathering of world leaders and top security officials, Karzai praised the new US administration’s more regional approach to fighting terrorism and welcomed President Barack Obama’s appointment of Richard Holbrooke as a special representative to Pakistan and Afghanistan.

“Security can... not come to Afghanistan, or to the region, or to the international community without better co-ordination with our neighbours,” he said. But Karzai said Afghanistan’s diplomatic ties with its neighbours are getting stronger.

“There is greater understanding with Afghanistan and its neighbours in the region,” he said.

This message was reinforced by Pakistani foreign minister Makhdoom Quershi, who spoke of a “new era of understanding and co-operation between Afghanistan and Pakistan”.