No pre-conditions for Afghan peace, says Pakistani spokesman

Aimal Faizi, spokesperson to President Hamid Karzai, said in Kabul that Pakistan has tried to "sabotage" the peace process and put pre-conditions.

Faizi also said that Islamabad has asked Afghanistan to cut ties with India, however, the Pakistan Foreign Ministry spokesman denied all these assertions.

The Pakistani spokesperson said that Pakistan has not laid down any pre-conditions for the peace process.

"Pakistan is whole-heartedly supporting and facilitating the peace process without any conditions or preference for any particular group or party," he said in a statement, Kazinform refers to Xinhua.

The spokesperson said that the proposal for a Strategic Partnership Agreement (SPA) between Pakistan and Afghanistan had emanated from President Karzai himself. "The Government of Pakistan had welcomed the proposal."

He also said that Pakistan did not demand that Afghanistan should "cut all ties with India." Pakistan has no objection or issue with Afghanistan developing relations with any country.

"We have only stressed that those external forces which are using the soil of Afghanistan to destabilize Pakistan should be discouraged."

On sending Afghan army officers to Pakistan for training, the spokesperson said that this was an offer made by the government of Pakistan of goodwill to contribute to the training needs of the security forces of Afghanistan. "This was not a pre-condition but an offer in goodwill."

The spokesperson added that Pakistan remains fully committed to facilitating peace, reconciliation and stability in Afghanistan, adding Pakistan's offers of goodwill should not be construed as pre-conditions.