Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, has arrived in
Tuesday's visit comes against a backdrop of shifting relations in the region.
During his second trip to the Indian capital this year, Karzai will meet Manmohan Singh, the Indian prime minister, and sign several strategic agreements, including ones on development aid and security.
Some analysts in
"Karzai's visit comes at a crucial juncture to endorse
"Karzai is coming to
The Indian Express newspaper reported on Sunday that Karzai would sign a "strategic partnership" agreement with Singh, the first such pact with any country in the world.
The proposed alliance, which foreign ministry officials declined to confirm, was said to include an Indian commitment to increase its training of Afghan security forces, including the police.
Indian involvement in
In a primetime national address on Monday, Karzai accused
Karzai said he had always stood by friendly relations with
"The Islamic
He also called for a review of his country's plans to pursue peace with the Taliban, saying he will focus on talking to governments and not specific groups related to them.
Karzai acknowledged that his efforts for peace had failed as his overtures were met with more violence and targeted killings, most recently of his chief peace negotiator, Burhanuddin Rabbani.
"The killings show that our call for peace has not seen a positive response. One-sided desire for peace will not bring a resolution. Peace can only be achieved with those who believe in it."
"We have to fight decisively against those who do not believe in peace."
Karzai's comments follow
Mullen called the powerful Haqqani network, operating out of
The comments did not go down well with
Yousuf Raza Gilani, the Pakistani prime minister, convened an all-party conference to discuss the
In particular to accusations from
"Certain forces are at work to destabilise
Gilani said his government was committed to bringing peace through dialogue with Taliban in the tribal areas. They would not disarm but only "decommission" the Taliban, he said.
'No ties with ISI'
In a related development, the leader of the Haqqani network has rejected US allegations that his group is linked to
Sirajuddin Haqqani, in an interview with BBC Pashto, denied that the Haqqanis, blamed for the recent high-profile attacks on Western targets in
"We haven't killed Burhanuddin Rabbani and this has been said many times by the spokespersons of the Islamic Emirate," he said, referring to the Taliban
Afghan officials have blamed the Taliban for the September 20 turban bombing, saying Rabbani's killer was Pakistani and that the attack was plotted by the Afghan Taliban's leadership body, the Quetta Shura, in
However, no Afghan officials have specifically accused the Haqqani network over the killing.
The network is considered loyal to the Taliban supreme leader, Mullah Omar, and has a seat on the Taliban leadership council.
Afghan officials say they have shared their investigation with Pakistani authorities and that they will request a UN inquiry into the murder if
http://aljazeera.com/news/asia/2011/10/201110453629522332.html
