Pakistan terms Karzai comments misplaced

ISLAMABAD: A Foreign Office spokesman on Monday said that Pakistan desired good neighbourly relations with Afghanistan on the basis of mutual respect and interest.

The spokesman was responding to a question regarding media reports about Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s recent assertions that conditionalities will be attached to negotiations on a Strategic Partnership Agreement with Pakistan.

He said that the comments reportedly made by President Karzai and certain other quarters in Afghanistan in this regard were entirely misplaced and without any basis.

The spokesman clarified that the proposed Strategic Partnership Agreement was suggested by President Karzai during the Trilateral Summit in New York. The same was also reflected in the press release dated September 29, 2012 issued from New York, he added.