The council is about to enter a new phase after days of committee work, some of which bogged down in personal conflict between strong-willed delegates. On December 22, a conference official announced that the council, originally scheduled to end after ten days, would open proceedings to the public on December 23.
EurasiaNet: In a speech at Columbia University on September 25, President Karzai clearly asked the Pakistani government to shut down fundamentalist religious schools in Pakistan.
EurasiaNet: In a speech at Columbia University on September 25, President Karzai clearly asked the Pakistani government to shut down fundamentalist religious schools in Pakistan.
Promoting stability provides an ongoing challenge for President Hamid Karzai's government in Afghanistan. Central authority continues to encounter resistance from warlords in Afghanistan's provinces, and in recent weeks reconstituted Taliban military units have become increasingly active in eastern and southern regions of the country.
President Hamid Karzai has openly accused Muslim clergy in neighboring Pakistan of supporting Taliban guerrilla activity in Afghanistan. Karzai recently asked Afghan clerics to help keep young Afghans out of some Pakistani religious schools, or madrassas, which are believed to promote radical Islamic beliefs.
Pakistan reopened its embassy in Afghanistan on July 21 after closing it for nearly two weeks, but tensions between the two countries remain high. Before the reopening, American officials called a hasty diplomatic meeting to stop skirmishes between Afghan and Pakistani troops.
Afghan leaders are confronting a diplomatic crisis with serious implications for the country's stabilization efforts. Pakistan has closed its embassy in Kabul after a crowd of Afghans, angry over Islamabad's alleged support for the Taliban and over supposed border intrusions, broke into the mission and ransacked it.
Mir Jan proudly displays what he describes as his badges of honor two deep scars one acquired fighting the erstwhile Soviet Union with US assistance; the other, ironically, sustained fighting his former ally in the US-led war in Afghanistan.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai says he has received a commitment from his Pakistani counterpart, Pervez Musharraf, to establish a joint commission to promote stability along the two countries' mutual border. The Afghan government has long complained that Taliban elements have used Pakistan's tribal zone as a staging area for raids into Afghanistan.
A recent border shootout between Pakistani and Afghan government troops in the Pashtun tribal belt has heightened already sharp tensions between the neighboring countries.
