Pakistan should be more closely involved in solving the Afghan conflict, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in a newspaper interview due to be published on Sunday. "There will be no peace in this region unless Pakistan carries its share of responsibility," Merkel told German weekly Welt am Sonntag.
"For a comprehensive solution, we need a much greater involvement of Afghan authorities and the inclusion of neighbouring countries, in particular Pakistan." Pakistan's involvement has been limited because after decades of involvement in Afghan affairs, Pakistan intelligence is viewed with deep suspicion by both Kabul and the Taliban.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who this week invited the Taliban's leaders to a peace council as part of efforts to end years of fighting, uses the former Taliban ambassador to Pakistan as a go-between with insurgents.