Afghanistan and Pakistan have finalised lists of about 350 people each to attend a joint "jirga" to tackle the Taliban insurgency, Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao said on Thursday. The two sides are now working on the details of the agenda for the meeting, the first of its kind, Sherpao told reporters in Kabul.
The jirga, to which the Afghan and Pakistan leaders agreed at talks with US President George W. Bush in September, was first scheduled for early in the year. Sherpao said no date had been fixed. Those on the invitation lists include tribal elders, parliamentarians and intellectuals, the minister said. Sherpao is due to visit President Hamid Karzai on Friday.