Islamabad, Kabul and Tehran against "foreign solutions" to the Afghan conflict

The tripartite summit in the Pakistani capital brought together, Manouchehr Mottaki, Iranian Foreign Minister, with his  Pakistani counterpart Shah Mehmood Qureshi and Afghan colleague Rangin Dadfar Spanta. The latter should be replaced in the next executive by Zalmay Rasul, whose appointment was approved by parliament in Kabul.  

Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan will present a common agenda at the conference of donors for Afghanistan, scheduled for January 28 in London. The heads of diplomacy of the three countries - reports the website of the Pakistani newspaper Dawn – have reaffirmed their determination to promote a "regional" solution to the crisis, without "foreign" interference.

Shah Mehmood Qureshi points out that stability, peace and development in the region represent a "common goal" of the three countries and should be achieved through increased cooperation. Manouchehr Mottaki and Rangin Dadfar Spanta agreed on the need to "eliminate all terrorist elements" from their countries and seek to "accelerate" the process of dialogue with the Taliban.  

Meanwhile, the Afghan Parliament, meeting today in Kabul, rejected the nomination of 10 of the 17 ministers proposed by President Hamid Karzai. Members complain of the "lack of jurisdiction" of some names proposed by Karzai, while others are too close to the warlords. However, Parliament has ratified the appointment of two key ministries: Zalmay Rasul for Foreign Affairs and Habibullah Ghalib for justice.