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 Zardari calls for anti-extremism Marshall Plan11-03-2010PAKISTAN President Asif Ali Zardari has called for a "Marshall Plan" for Pakistan and Afghanistan to banish Taliban militancy for good. He made the statement during talks in Islamabad with Hamid Karzai, the president of neighbouring Afghanistan, which is also fighting Taliban insurgents. The two countries should "stand together and persuade the international community to devise a Marshall Plan for the region to banish the militancy and its effects for all time to come," Zardari said, referring to the US initiative launched in 1947 to rebuild western Europe after World War II.
The United States has spearheaded a major troop surge in a bid to end an eight-year Taliban insurgency against more than 120,000 NATO and US-led troops supporting Karzai's government.
Meanwhile in Pakistan, Washington has tripled non-military aid to $7.5 billion over the next five years as it tries to help stabilise the country, where a wave of suicide and bomb attacks has killed more than 3,000 people since 2007.
Karzai arrived in Pakistan Wednesday(10) for talks focused on jointly fighting terrorism and finding ways to address regional issues on peace and security.
"The two countries need to speak the same language at international forums because both suffer from the same malaise caused by the same mindset of militancy and extremism," Zardari said in the statement, suggesting the two foreign ministries work together on how to implement that.
During the talks with Karzai, Zardari also stressed the need for greater collaboration on fighting terrorism and extremism.
He endorsed a suggestion by his Afghan counterpart to convene a "Pak-Afghan Peace Jirga", a meeting of tribal elders and senior government officials from the two countries.
The two leaders also agreed more economic collaboration was needed.
"President Karzai urged for a partnership, which allows realisation of the full potential of human and natural resources, greater connectivity, more trade and economic cooperation," the statement said.
Karzai's two-day trip is his first visit to Pakistan since his controversial re-election in troubled polls last year.
He will hold talks with Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani Thursday (11).
Kabul accuses Islamabad of not doing enough to eliminate Taliban operatives using Pakistan as a base from which to fight the Afghan insurgency.
Karzai has vowed to try to hold a conference to encourage Taliban and other insurgent leaders to lay down their arms, but has pledged no reconciliation with the militant network al-Qaeda.
British Foreign Secretary David Miliband was to deliver a speech in the United States on Wednesday pressing Kabul to step up efforts for a political solution.
Pakistan has expressed willingness to assist Afghan-led peace efforts.
Under US pressure, Islamabad has launched campaigns in its tribal corridor on the Afghan border, where the core Taliban leadership and Al-Qaeda-linked militants fled after the 2001 US-led invasion of Afghanistan.
Pakistan has also confirmed the arrest of Mullah Adbul Ghani Baradar, said by US officials to be second only to Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar.
The Afghan government has asked Pakistan to extradite Baradar and more than 40 other people, including Taliban militants, currently in Pakistani prisons.
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