UZBEKISTAN PROPOSES INTERNATIONAL FORUM TO SETTLE AFGHAN CONFLICT.

Publication: Monitor Volume: 3 Issue: 158

Uzbek foreign minister Abdulaziz Komilov yesterday detailed President Islam Karimov’s proposal, outlined on August 23, to create an International Contact Group in order to negotiate a political settlement of the Afghan conflict. Uzbekistan proposes that the forum be comprised of Pakistan, Iran, Uzbekistan, and other Central Asian countries, along with the U.S., Russia, and the Afghan parties to the conflict, under the aegis of the UN and the Islamic Conference Organization. The Contact Group’s mandate would focus on the creation of a coalition government that would ensure political representation of Afghanistan’s main regional, ethnic, political, and military factors. Uzbekistan believes that an understanding between Iran and Pakistan represents a key prerequisite to settling the conflict. (International agencies, August 26)

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