By IANS
Kabul : Pakistan and Afghanistan Thursday vowed to deepen cooperation to secure peace and stability in the two countries.
Ahead of the three-day “jirga” – or tribal assembly – that started Thursday morning, Pakistan Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai held a meeting here and discussed means to resolve issues pertaining to security, said Associated Press of Pakistan.
Maintaining that his country was in favour of a peaceful and stable Afghanistan Aziz said: “Peace and security in Afghanistan is in the national interest of Pakistan.”
He said Pakistan believed that peace in Afghanistan depends upon reconstruction, rehabilitation, development, creation of employment opportunities and engagement of all the stakeholders.
He said Pakistan had deployed more than 90,000 troops and established over a thousand posts at the Pakistan-Afghanistan border to help in the joint struggle against terrorists and extremists.
He hoped that the “jirga” would help both countries to promote peace and stability in the region.
President Karzai said relations with Pakistan were based on deep religious, cultural, ethnic and historic ties.