Chicago, May 22 (ANI): Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari has told NATO leaders that the Pakistan government has ordered officials to reach a deal with the U.S. on reopening its border to NATO supplies for American troops in Afghanistan.
Pakistani officials have "decided to direct the relevant officials to conclude negotiations for resumption of the ground lines of communication", the Daily Times quoted Zardari, as saying, at the NATO Summit in Chicago, focusing on the future of Afghanistan.
The NATO supply routes were closed after a U.S. air raid killed 24 Pakistani soldiers in November last year.
Zardari expressed Islamabad's support for peaceful transition in Kabul, but urged a long-term commitment to ensure stability in Afghanistan.
"This is a defining moment for Afghanistan and the region as a whole. I stand here to confirm our belief that a peaceful, prosperous and stable Afghanistan is in Pakistan's national interest," Zardari was quoted, as saying.
Speaking at a time when NATO and international partners look to end their combat mission in Afghanistan by 2014, Zardari emphasised the "international commitment to Afghanistan must be firm and complete" in the post-withdrawal period.
In the larger international perspective, he stressed to the gathering that as citizens of the global village, "our destinies are interlinked".
"We all have a stake in durable peace. We all suffer if violence takes root in any part of the world," he added. (ANI)