Afghanistan will not hold peace jirga with Pakistan: Rabbani
By ANITuesday, January 11, 2011
KABUL - Former Afghanistan President Burhanuddin Rabbani, who is the leader of a peace delegation to Pakistan, has denied that the two countries had reached an agreement to hold a peace gathering, contradicting an earlier statement from Islamabad.
The group from Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai’s High Council for Peace (HCP) had held high-level talks in Islamabad last week.
Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry had said that both countries had reached an agreement to convene a peace jirga in the coming months, but Rabbani denied it.
“During our trip, while we were in Pakistan, there were some reports and rumours around, most of which were propaganda and were not true,” the Daily Times quoted Rabbani, as saying.
“For example, it was said that there, we have requested the setting up of a jirga. We only said there that in the past, we had the regional peace jirga,” he added.
Rabbani, however, said that talks had been held in a “sincere atmosphere”, and the delegation had been given assurances by political, military and religious figures that they will “fully cooperate” with the peace process in Afghanistan. (ANI)
