Karzai due today

Afghanistan’s President Hamid Karzai will arrive here on Wednesday on a two-day state visit and hold talks with leadership on issues of bilateral interest.

The Foreign Office termed President Karzai’s visit as “essentially a goodwill visit and an expression of solidarity with Pakistan” and said that it would further strengthen expanding multifaceted relations between the two brotherly countries.

The visit is in response to the invitation extended by President Pervez Musharraf during his visit to Afghanistan this August to address the concluding session of Pakistan-Afghanistan Grand Jirga. President Karzai will be the second head of state to visit Pakistan after Turkish President Abdullah Gul since the re-election of President Musharraf for a second term.

President Karzai will hold formal talks with President Musharraf on the first day of his visit. The meeting is expected to focus on bilateral relations, reconstruction in Afghanistan as well as regional and international situation. Later, the two dignitaries will talk to the press. President Musharraf will also host a state banquet in the honour of President Karzai.

The second day, President Karzai will lay floral wreath at a ceremony at Pakistan Monument and plant a sapling at Shakarparian. He will hold separate meetings with local businessmen and Afghan nationals. The Afghan President will hold talks with Caretaker Prime Minister Mohammadmian Soomro at PM House, attend a luncheon and will depart for Kabul later afternoon.