By DPA,
Ankara : Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari and his Afghanistan counterpart Harmid Karzai agreed in Istanbul Friday to deepen cooperation against terrorism and to introduce concrete institutional mechanisms to solve problems between the two countries.
Turkish President Abdullah Gul who hosted the tripartite summit in Istanbul described Friday’s talks as “open, sincere and fruitful.”
Karzai said that since the election of Zardari to the Pakistani presidency, relations between the two countries at a leadership level have been very good.
“(Pakistan and Afghanistan) have met and have decided to draw up a joint strategy to fight terrorism, Al Qaeda and other terroristic organizations,” Karzai said.
“We discussed with emphasis the need to now go down to institutional arrangements between the two governments… to take us to a more cooperative struggle against terrorism in the region.”
Pakistan-Afghanistan relations have been strained in recent years owing to Pakistan’s northwestern tribal regions being used as a base and recruiting ground for hardline Taliban fighters bent on overthrowing the Afghanistan government.
Friday’s meeting was the second summit between the leaders of the neighbouring countries, with Karzai holding talks in April last year with then Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf.