KABUL - Turkey has urged Afghanistan and Pakistan to avoid harsh exchanges over a recent suicide attack on the Afghan spymaster and focus on improving their relations at the trilateral summit in Ankara, a media report said on Wednesday.
As part of the regular consultation mechanism that was established in 2007, the presidents of Afghanistan, Pakistan and Turkey are due to meet later in the day on ways of improving their relations and bringing stability to the region.
A day earlier, President Hamid Karzai’s office said he would raise the issue of Thursday’s attack on the National Directorate of Security (NDS) chief on the basis of documents obtained by the Afghan government, which says the attacker -- posing as a Taliban peace negotiator -- had a bomb hidden in his underwear.
On the eve of the summit, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu met his Afghan and Pakistani counterparts to firm up the agenda for summit. He asked Zalmai Rassoul and Hina Rabbani Khar not to allow the attack on Khalid to scuttle the talks on security cooperation.
According to Daily News, the Turkish minister said: “This incident is of course going to be an important issue. But we believe this issue should not cast a shadow on the very objective of this sort of trilateral mechanism.”
Turkey is setting up an encrypted crisis hotline for visual communication between the three presidents. Karzai and Zardari are also expected to sign a memorandum of understanding on economic and commercial cooperation.
Karzai will also meet Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on ways of further strengthening bilateral relations. They will discuss regional issues and challenges.
Karzai is accompanied by Foreign Minister Zalmai Rassoul, High Peace Council Chairman Salahuddin Rabbani, Interior Minister Ghulam Mujtaba Patang and National Security Advisor Dr. Rangin Dadfar Spanta.
Transport and Civil Aviation Minister Daud Ali Najafi, Public Works Minister Najibullah Awzan, Chief of Army Staff Maj. Sher Mohammad Karimi and Deputy Foreign Minister Javed Ludin are also included in the delegation. (Pajhwok)