No Breakthrough In Afghanistan-Pakistan Security Talks

Pakistani Foreign Minister Khursheed Kasuri (left) with Afghan counterpart Rangin Dadfar Spanta in Kabul on December 7 (epa) December 8, 2006 -- Talks between Pakistani Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri and Afghan officials in Kabul have ended today without a breakthrough on the proposed creation of tribal councils to rein in the Taliban insurgency.

Kasuri arrived in Kabul on December 7 for a two-day visit focusing on a plan to hold tribal councils as a way of combatting militant violence in Afghanistan.

He told a joint news conference that the Afghan side would hand him its suggestions before he left the country and pledged Pakistan would respond soon.

Kasuri also proposed the repatriation of over 2.5 million Afghan refugees to prevent Taliban militants from infiltrating into Afghanistan.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai told Kasuri the Afghan population's patience is "wearing thin." The country has seen an upsurge of violence blamed largely on insurgents based in Pakistan.

(Reuters, AFP)