The Afghan foreign minister called on Saturday on rivals Pakistan and India to leave Afghanistan out of their fraught ties saying Kabul wanted good relations with both. Rangin Dadfar Spanta was speaking to reporters on his return from his first visit to Pakistan as foreign minister.
Asked about Pakistan's concern about India's influence on Afghanistan, Spanta said officials had asked in meetings for both to "do us a favour and leave Afghanistan out of their tensions".
"We have very good relations with India and want better and better relations with Pakistan," he said. "These two countries should try to solve their problems themselves," he added.
Afghanistan had already asked the United States and neighbouring Iran not to pull it into their disputes and wanted similar from the Southeast Asian rivals, the minister said.
Another example was of Pakistan having good relations with both China and America, who also had difficult relations, Spanta said.
Spanta met President Pervez Musharraf after arriving in Islamabad on Friday for a visit that comes against a backdrop of tension between the two neighbours over Taleban and al Qaeda militants that Afghanistan says are plotting the insurgency from Pakistani soil.
Afghanistan has accused Pakistan of not doing enough to stop the militants' activities or their training and finance. Islamabad has said these are allegations fed to Kabul by Indian intelligence.
Pakistan also has expresses concern that weapons are being smuggled into its Balochistan province allegedly from Afghanistan to inflame an insurgency there.
Spanta said it had been agreed during his visit that the foreign ministers of both countries would meet every three months.
They would also step up co-operation in the fight against terrorism with security authorities to meet every two months, including talks about Afghan prisoners being held in Pakistan jails.
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