Context
Turkey has attempted to bring Pakistani and Afghan officials to the negotiating table for the first time after the assassination of former Afghan President Burhanuddin Rabbani. The Istanbul Conference for Afghanistan will be held on Wednesday and is expected to discuss issues of cooperation and stability in the region. Confidence building is also to be discussed, as are measures to tackle issues of border security, terrorism, and human and drug trafficking as well as efforts to increase economic cooperation.
Pakistan faces increasing pressure to help establish a roadmap for regional security and peace. The U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, officials from Germany, France, Poland, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), the European Union, the OSCE, NATO, and the United Nations will also be attending the conference.
The sixth of the trilateral meetings between Turkey, Afghanistan and Pakistan, will be held in Istanbul today prior to the start of the conference.
