Pakistan calls for ‘Marshall Plan’ to end militancy

PAKISTAN: Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari on Wednesday called for a “Marshall Plan” for Pakistan and Afghanistan to banish Taliban militancy for good.

He made the statement during talks in Islamabad with Hamid Karzai, the President of neighbouring Afghanistan, which is also fighting Taliban insurgents.

The two countries should “stand together and persuade the international community to devise a Marshall Plan for the region to banish the militancy and its effects for all time to come,” Zardari said, referring to the US initiative launched in 1947 to rebuild western Europe after World War II.

Meanwhile in Pakistan, Washington has tripled non-military aid to 7.5 billion dollars over the next five years as it tries to help stabilise the country, where a wave of suicide and bomb attacks has killed more than 3,000 people since 2007.

Karzai arrived in Pakistan Wednesday for talks focused on jointly fighting terrorism and finding ways to address regional issues on peace and security.

“The two countries need to speak the same language at international forums because both suffer from the same malaise caused by the same mindset of militancy and extremism,” Zardari said in the statement, suggesting the two foreign ministries work together on how to implement that.

During the talks with Karzai, Zardari also stressed the need for greater collaboration on fighting terrorism and extremism.

He endorsed a suggestion by his Afghan counterpart to convene a “Pak-Afghan Peace Jirga”, a meeting of tribal elders and senior government officials from the two countries.

Islamabad, AFP