Blair meets Musharraf, discusses security
Nov 19, 2006 - 9:13:23 PM
, Reviewed by: Priya Saxena
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Prior to Blair's arrival, Afghan President Hamid Karzai sought Pakistan's increased cooperation in fighting the insurgency.
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By DPA,
[RxPG] Islamabad, Nov 19 (DPA) British Prime Minister Tony Blair met Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf in Lahore Sunday for talks centred on counter-terrorism and the security situation in neighbouring Afghanistan.
Blair, who arrived in Islamabad Saturday evening on a two-day visit, will also discuss boosting British aid to Pakistan from 236 million pounds (about $446 million) to 480 million pounds (about $907 million).
To be disbursed over the next three years, many of the funds will be allocated to combating extremism in Pakistan's madrassas (Seminary) and developing the Pakistani security services.
Other likely topics were the peace process with India, Iran's nuclear programme and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The leaders were later due to hold a press conference and issue a joint statement before Blair returns to the capital and consults with Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and a group of Muslim leaders and scholars.
Blair is visiting Pakistan for the third round of bilateral summit consultations that were agreed during Musharraf's visit to London in December 2004.
His arrival came after Pakistani authorities on Friday released British national Mirza Tahir Hussain, who spent 18 years on death row for the murder of a taxi driver. Blair had personally asked the president to show clemency.
However, events have been overshadowed by the prime minister's admission in an interview Friday with Al-Jazeera's new English language channel that the US-led and British-backed invasion of Iraq in 2003 had been a 'disaster'.
A focus of the consultations is the effectiveness of the multinational forces in Afghanistan and stability along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, from where the remnants of Afghanistan's ousted Taliban have stepped up attacks in recent months.
Some 3,700 people have been killed in fighting in Afghanistan this year, including around 1,000 civilians and more than 150 foreign soldiers.
Prior to Blair's arrival, Afghan President Hamid Karzai sought Pakistan's increased cooperation in fighting the insurgency.
Asked whether Pakistan had done enough to stop or contain the Taliban, Karzai reportedly said there were 'policy differences' between Kabul and Islamabad on the issue.
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