InfoAnda - Afghanistan hopeful of Pakistan's help in peace drive |

Pakistanis angry over detentions in Times Sq. case
Monday, May 24, 2010
ISLAMABAD – Relatives of three men detained by Pakistan for alleged links to the suspect in the attempted Times Square bombing say the men are innocent.
They

Taiwan denies boycotting Australian film festival
Thursday, August 6, 2009

AFP - Thursday, August 6TAIPEI (AFP) - - Taiwan's Beijing-friendly government on Wednesday denied boycotting an Australian film festival amid a row over the e

Merkel's support dips, regional ally resigns International
Thursday, September 3, 2009

By Sarah Marsh and Noah Barkin

BERLIN (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel suffered a double blow on Thursday as a senior party ally in east German

Minister seeks closure of anti-Berlusconi websites
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
ROME (AFP) - – The Italian government moved Tuesday to close down Internet sites encouraging further violence against Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who

Asian markets mixed after Wall Street rally
Wednesday, March 18, 2009

By ELAINE KURTENBACH,AP Business Writer AP - Wednesday, March 18SHANGHAI - Asia's stock market rally seemed to be running out of steam Wednesday, despite an

Thai court clears way for Viktor Bout extradition | 6 October 2010
EU gives time to rein in ballooning deficits | 25 March 2009
Argentine president cancels trip on health grounds | | 28 June 2011

Syrian rebels arm Palestinians against Assad | | 1 November 2012

Forum Views () Forum Replies ()

Read more with google mobile : Afghanistan hopeful of Pakistan's help in peace drive |

Edition: U.S. Africa Arabic Argentina Brazil Canada China France Germany India Italy Japan Latin America Mexico Russia Spain United Kingdom Home Business Business Home Economy Technology Media Small Business Legal Deals Earnings Summits Business Video The Freeland File Markets Markets Home U.S. Markets European Markets Asian Markets Global Market Data Indices M&A Stocks Bonds Currencies Commodities Futures Funds peHUB World World Home U.S. Brazil China Euro Zone Japan Mexico Russia India Insight World Video Reuters Investigates Decoder Politics Politics Home Election 2012 Issues 2012 Candidates 2012 Tales from the Trail Political Punchlines Supreme Court Politics Video Tech Technology Home MediaFile Science Tech Video Tech Tonic Opinion Opinion Home Chrystia Freeland John Lloyd Felix Salmon Jack Shafer David Rohde Bernd Debusmann Nader Mousavizadeh Lucy P. Marcus David Cay Johnston Bethany McLean Edward Hadas Hugo Dixon Ian Bremmer Mohamed El-Erian Lawrence Summers Susan Glasser The Great Debate Steven Brill Geraldine Fabrikant Jack & Suzy Welch Breakingviews Equities Credit Private Equity M&A Macro & Markets Politics Breakingviews Video Money Money Home Tax Break Global Investing MuniLand Unstructured Finance Linda Stern Mark Miller John Wasik James Saft Analyst Research Alerts Watchlist Portfolio Stock Screener Fund Screener Personal Finance Video Money Clip Investing 201 Life Health Sports Arts Faithworld Business Traveler Entertainment Oddly Enough Lifestyle Video Pictures Pictures Home Reuters Photographers Full Focus Video Reuters TV Reuters News Article Comments (0) Full Focus Photos of the week Our best photos of the week. Full Article Images of January Best photos of the year 2011 Follow Reuters Facebook Twitter RSS YouTube Read Romney's struggles fuel talk of brokered convention 17 Feb 2012 Google's Schmidt may sell about 2.4 million shares 17 Feb 2012 Family, fans, stars gather to mourn Whitney Houston | 10:59am EST RPT-Obama's slogan: looking to replace Hope and Change 6:59am EST Italian police seize $6 trillion of fake U.S. bonds | 17 Feb 2012 Discussed 262 Obama proposes $800 million in aid for ”Arab Spring” 242 It’s bailout or chaos, PM Papademos tells Greece 164 REFILE-Al Gore takes aim at ”unsustainable” capitalism Watched Guests arrive at Houston's funeral home Fri, Feb 17 2012 Huge baby shocks parents Tue, Feb 7 2012 Mourners visit Whitney funeral home Fri, Feb 17 2012 Afghanistan hopeful of Pakistan's help in peace drive Tweet Share this Email Print Related News Afghanistan, Pakistan hold "hard" talks on Afghan peace Fri, Feb 17 2012 U.S.-Taliban talks only "exploratory": Afghan envoy Thu, Feb 16 2012 Former Afghan spy chief chafes at peace talks Thu, Feb 16 2012 Afghan leader to push for access to Taliban in Pakistan Tue, Feb 14 2012 NATO, Afghan and Pakistan officials to hold border talks Wed, Feb 8 2012 Analysis & Opinion India, Pakistan find common cause in shoddy national carriers Difa-e-Pakistan: What we know and do not want to hear Related Topics World » Afghanistan » By Michael Georgy ISLAMABAD | Sat Feb 18, 2012 8:08am EST ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Afghanistan is optimistic that regional power Pakistan will help the Kabul government advance a reconciliation process with the Taliban, the Afghan president's spokesman said Saturday. Pakistan, seen as crucial to efforts to end the war in Afghanistan, has repeatedly said it wants peace in its neighbor. Afghans, however, have always been suspicious of Pakistani intentions because of historical ties between Pakistani intelligence and insurgent groups like the Afghan Taliban. Relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan were strained for months after the assassination in September of Afghan peace envoy and former president Burhanuddin Rabbani. Afghan officials blamed Pakistan's intelligence agency, allegations angrily denied by Islamabad. But talks this week between Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Pakistani leaders in Islamabad were encouraging, said Karzai's spokesman, Aimal Faizi. "We noticed a big change among the Pakistanis. The atmosphere is much better," Faizi told Reuters in Islamabad. "We are more optimistic than before that they will support us." Faizi said Karzai made several demands when he met top Pakistani officials. He would not list them but Afghanistan is known to want access to Taliban leaders belonging so the so-called Quetta Shura, named after the Pakistani city where it is said to be based. They would be the decision makers in any substantive peace negotiations. CHANGE IN MOOD Pakistan has consistently denied giving sanctuary to insurgents and denies the existence of any Quetta Shura, or leadership council. Pakistani Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar said after a recent trip to Kabul that a lot of ill will between Kabul and Islamabad had eased. And she indicated Pakistan would encourage militant groups seeking to topple the U.S.-backed Kabul government to pursue peace if asked by Afghanistan. The apparent change in mood comes at a critical time when the Afghan government is exploring ways to reach the next stage of reconciliation -- negotiations with the Taliban. So far, there have only been contacts, Afghan officials say. The Afghan Taliban announced last month it would open a political office in Qatar, suggesting it may be willing to engage in negotiations that could likely give it government positions or official control over much of its historical southern heartland. Karzai's government supports any talks that take place in Qatar, but it wants to widen the reconciliation process to other countries because that could make the effort more comprehensive. Faizi said Afghanistan had a preference for holding the next phase of the reconciliation process in Saudi Arabia and Turkey. "We want these two countries to facilitate the real (formal) talks," he said. Saudi Arabia has had some influence in Afghanistan since it supported mujahideen fighters against Soviet occupation forces in the 1980s. It has maintained a close relationship with Pakistan. During his trip to Islamabad, Karzai also met opposition politicians and religious leaders. Maulana Sami-ul-Haq, a cleric who heads a Pakistani seminary where senior Afghan Taliban members studied in the past, suggested Karzai asked him in talks Saturday to urge the Taliban to pursue peace negotiations. "Karzai is well aware of our contacts with the Taliban," he told Reuters. An Afghan official confirmed the meeting took place. "The Afghan position these days is to have good relations and take on board all the parties and political sides of Pakistan and not just the government," he said. "Sami-ul-Haq comes across as one of the main parties." (Additional reporting by Serena Chaudhry in ISLAMABAD; and Jibran Ahmad in PESHAWAR; Editing by Robert Birsel) World Afghanistan Related Quotes and News Company Price Related News Tweet this Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints We welcome comments that advance the story through relevant opinion, anecdotes, links and data. If you see a comment that you believe is irrelevant or inappropriate, you can flag it to our editors by using the report abuse links. Views expressed in the comments do not represent those of Reuters. For more information on our comment policy, see http://blogs.reuters.com/fulldisclosure/2010/09/27/toward-a-more-thoughtful-conversation-on-stories/ Comments (0) Be the first to comment on reuters.com. Add yours using the box above. Edition: U.S. Africa Arabic Argentina Brazil Canada China France Germany India Italy Japan Latin America Mexico Russia Spain United Kingdom Back to top Reuters.com Business Markets World Politics Technology Opinion Money Pictures Videos Site Index Legal Bankruptcy Law California Legal New York Legal Securities Law Support & Contact Support Corrections Advertise With Us Connect with Reuters Twitter Facebook LinkedIn RSS Podcast Newsletters Mobile About Privacy Policy Terms of Use Copyright Our Flagship financial information platform incorporating Reuters Insider An ultra-low latency infrastructure for electronic trading and data distribution A connected approach to governance, risk and compliance Our next generation legal research platform Our global tax workstation Thomsonreuters.com About Thomson Reuters Investor Relations Careers Contact Us Thomson Reuters is the world's largest international multimedia news agency, providing investing news, world news, business news, technology news, headline news, small business news, news alerts, personal finance, stock market, and mutual funds information available on Reuters.com, video, mobile, and interactive television platforms. Thomson Reuters journalists are subject to an Editorial Handbook which requires fair presentation and disclosure of relevant interests. NYSE and AMEX quotes delayed by at least 20 minutes. Nasdaq delayed by at least 15 minutes. For a complete list of exchanges and delays, please click here.

Other News on Saturday, 18 February 2012
Xi confident on 2012 Chinese economy, visits U.S. school |
U.S., EU welcome Iran nuclear letter, suggest talks |
Iranian naval ships enter Mediterranean via Suez |
Prison fire puts spotlight on Honduras meltdown |
U.S. Navy fears small Iranian boats, confident of own |
Hackers target Putin's vote-monitoring system |
Briton jailed for extensive Facebook hack |
Venture capital sees big returns in big data |
Hackers target Putin's vote-monitoring system |
Got white girl problems? Babe Walker does, too |
Kinnucan, ex-SanDisk exec charged in insider probe |
Foo Fighter's Dave Grohl defends Grammy speech |
Got white girl problems? Babe Walker does, too |
For Mideast foes' Oscar films, family trumps flag |
Pattinson says may be too old to return to Twilight |
Sean Stone hopes Islam conversion aids understanding |
Jon Secada joins campaign on chronic hepatitis C |
Chinese envoy to meet Syrian leader after U.N. condemnation |
U.S., EU welcome Iran nuclear letter, suggest talks |
China's Xi sells U.S. trade elixir, personal chemistry |
Collapse of arms trade treaty talks narrowly averted |
Japanese emperor's heart bypass operation a success |
Apple did not infringe HTC technology: ITC |
Stars come out for Whitney Houston's funeral |
Whitney Houston's hometown remembers her fondly |
The Help wins big at Image Awards; Houston remembered |
Carlynsanity
Image makers to Chris Brown: take a chill pill |
Robin Thicke arrested in New York for pot |
Israel calls for tougher Iran sanctions |
Afghanistan hopeful of Pakistan's help in peace drive |
Pope leaves stamp on Church future with new cardinals |
Trial starts in Iran's biggest banking scandal |
Prostitution probe to quiz Strauss-Kahn: source |
France's far right leader Le Pen tries revive campaign |
Fortabat, one of Argentina's richest women, dies at 90 |
Motorola Mobility says Apple files EU patent complaint |
Cold War film tipped to snare Berlin Golden Bear award |
Apple may be working on an iOS-ARM notebook
Greece at new risk of being pushed off euro
Bodies of missing Tenn. mom, Jo Ann Bain, and daughter found
Female Breasts Are Bigger Than Ever
AMD Trinity Accelerated Processing Units Now in Volume Production
The Avengers (2012 film), made the second biggest opening- and single-day gross of all-time
AMD to Start Production of piledriver
Ivy Bridge Quad-Core, Four-Thread Desktop CPUs
Islamists Protest Lady Gaga's Concert in Indonesia
Japan Successfully Broadcasts an 8K Signal Over the Air
ECB boosts loans to 1 trillion Euro to stop credit crunch
Egypt : Mohammed Morsi won with 52 percent
What do you call 100,000 Frenchmen with their hands up
AMD Launches AMD Embedded R-Series APU Platform
Fed Should not Ignore Emerging Market Crisis
Fed casts shadow over India, emerging markets
Why are Chinese tourists so rude? A few insights

USD EUR - 1 year graph		BlogMeter 1.01