India invited to international meet on Af-Pak in Italy

India along with other key global powers and regional players has been invited to an international meet on Afghanistan and Pakistan in Trieste, Italy later this week.

Iran, which has been also invited for the crucial Af-Pak meet by host Italy, has not yet responded.

"We expect an open dialogue on the challenges that we face together in Afghanistan and Pakistan," said a State Department official. However, the senior official could not comment what would be expected from India at this meeting with regard to Pakistan.

India's role in Afghanistan is well-known, where New Delhi is quietly involved in massive developmental activities. The meeting would be held on the sidelines of the G-8 Foreign Minister's meeting.

Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs William Burns and Special envoy for Pakistan and Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke would represent the US. Italians are convinced, he said, that this is a global problem and can only be dealt with globally.

"If we all working together, I think there's a significant amount of common interest in Pakistan in bolstering the Pakistani government and in providing more resources for its fight against the Taliban and other extremists, and for finding money," he said.

The official noted that there is an enormous humanitarian challenge in Pakistan and the international community will need more resources to deal with that.

"All of these countries coming together who have an interest in all of these same things: bolstering the government, fighting extremists, and dealing with the humanitarian situation, we hope we will be able to coordinate the efforts better with a chance to talk about it," he said.

Asked if the participating countries would be asked for both humanitarian and military aid with regard to Pakistan, the official said: "We will be looking for all of the ways in which countries will be able to help bolster the government and contribute towards these goals."

The official said host Italy have really wanted to put a very heavy emphasis on Afghanistan and Pakistan at this G-8 meeting, given the degree to which this is a question of global concern.

"So, some of those Afghanistan-Pakistan meetings in Trieste will be attended by Afghanistan's neighbours, and by the foreign ministers of Afghanistan and Pakistan, as well as other countries and organisations with a stake in those two countries," he added.