Pakistan To Boycott Bonn Conference

Pakistan has decided to boycott Bonn conference in protest to NATO/ISAF killing of its 24 soldiers and wounding of 13 others, said sources on Tuesday.

The decision came after the meeting of Cabinet, being chaired by Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani, official sources told KUNA.

They said the government has decided to not attend the Bonn conference in Afghanistan, in which Islamabad has a key role to play in brokering peace in the war-torn country.

Pakistan decides to boycott Bonn conference despite the United States urging Islamabad to attend it.

“We hope that they do in fact attend this conference because this is a conference that is about Afghanistan and building a more stable and prosperous and peaceful Afghanistan. And so that is very much in the interests of Pakistan,” said State Department spokesman, Mark Toner.

However, political analysts expressed less enthusiasm to Pakistan’s decision to boycott the conference. Najam Sethi, a leading political commentator, said that Pakistan’s decision does not make any difference as the conference is already not likely to achieve its aim.

For his part, Hassan Askari, another political analyst, said that it was expected that Pakistan will take some step in this regard. He was of the opinion that as Pakistan’s role in vital to any peace initiative in Afghanistan, its decision to boycott will have significant affect on the success of the conference.