ANKARA : The foreign ministers of Afghanistan and Pakistan will meet in Istanbul on Monday for talks aimed at bringing the troubled neighbours closer. Shah Mehmood Qureshi of Pakistan and his Afghan counterpart Zalmai Rassoul will meet with their FM Ahmet Davutoglu on Monday ahead of an conference on confidence-building measures in Asia.
Nato member Turkey, which has had traditionally close ties with both Afghanistan and Pakistan, has been pushing for the two countries since 2007 to overcome their differences and cooperate against extremists.
It has hosted four meetings between the Afghan and Pakistani presidents, accompanied by their military and intelligence chiefs, which have ended with pledges of to step up cooperation against extremists.
In Monday’s meeting, the ministers will share their views on progress in the trilateral process and steps to be taken in the future, sources said.
Relations between Kabul and Islamabad have become strained as extremists who fled the US-led ouster of Afghanistan’s Taliban regime in late 2001 found a safe haven in Pakistan’s northwestern tribal regions.
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