'US military surge destabilizes Pakistan'

Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi says the US' move to send 21,000 extra troops to war-ravaged Afghanistan could have serious implications for Pakistan.

"Pakistan has talked through political and military ways at all levels to the stakeholders that transferring the problem from Afghanistan to Pakistan will not help resolve the issue," Qureshi said at a news conference with his Turkish counterpart in Islamabad on Tuesday.

The Islamabad government is worried that the US President Barack Obama's move to boost its military presence in Afghanistan could further destabilize Pakistan by pushing more militants across the border.

Increased US military activity may also spark an influx of refugees from insurgency-hit southern Afghanistan into border areas of Pakistan.

The US invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 has prompted the Taliban militants to focus their attention across the border in Pakistan, turning the restive tribal belt between the two neighbors into the scene of deadly violence.

Qureshi also added that the US military surge in the war-conflict Afghanistan might also have implications for Pakistan's southwestern province of Balochistan.

Pakistan's Balochistan is already rocked by violence as Baloch rebel groups have for many years campaigned for greater autonomy and control of local resources.

Qureshi urged Washington to pursue non-military solutions to conflict in the troubled Pakistan and Afghanistan. "There should be a civilian surge to promote reconciliatory efforts in Afghanistan to resolve the issue".

Islamabad has repeatedly said that unwise White House policies were strengthening the Taliban and spreading extremism in the volatile region.

Violence in Pakistan has claimed the lives of thousands of people, including civilians and soldiers, since the country joined US-led 'war on terror'.

US to Attend G8 Meeting alongside Iran

US to Attend G8 Meeting alongside Iran
The US State Department confirmed on Friday that the country's Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will attend a meeting of the Group of Eight foreign ministers in Italy at the end of June.

"Yes, the secretary will attend," said State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley.

The US announcement came a day after the Italian Foreign Ministry extended an invitation to the Islamic Republic of Iran to attend the G-8 foreign ministerial meeting in Trieste, port city north of Italy, on June 25-27.

"Iran is invited to the conference, yes," said Italy's special envoy for Afghanistan Sergio Mercuri whose country currently holds the G8 presidency.

The two-day conference aims to promote peace and stability in Afghanistan with the help of its neighbors including Iran.

Washington has backed Tehran's participation in the G8 meeting on Afghanistan and Pakistan this month.

Earlier in May, Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said that Clinton was in favor of inviting Iran to the meeting.

Also in March, Tehran was invited to an international conference on Afghanistan at The Hague.

Washington has shown desire to reach out to Tehran to tackle problems facing Afghanistan, including the growing strength of Taliban militants across the war-torn country.

Afghan Foreign Minister Rangin Dadfar Spanta has also welcomed the presence of Iran at the meeting on Afghanistan.

Three US soldiers killed in Afghanistan

Three US soldiers are killed in an ambush in Afghanistan's Kapisa province north of Kabul, taking number of the coalition forces killed in 2009 to 126.

"Three coalition service members were killed in an attack on their convoy in Kapisa province this morning when their convoy struck an improvised explosive device and came under small-arms fire," the US military said on Thursday.

The force's media office told AFP that the three were from the United States.

No militant group has as yet claimed responsibility for the attack in area where extremist Hezb-e-Islami faction led by former prime minister Gulbuddin Hekmatyar are active.

A separate bombing in the southern province of Kandahar on Wednesday evening killed five Afghan security forces, Press TV correspondent reported.

The explosion hit a police patrol in the city of Spin Buldak, near the Durand Line border with Pakistan, when a Taliban militant rammed his explosive-laden motorcycle into the vehicle.

Taliban-linked insurgency has risen in Afghanistan, particularly in the violent south where hundreds of NATO soldiers are stationed.

Recent attacks have raised stability concerns as the nation heads for key presidential and provincial elections scheduled for August 20, the second since the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.

President Hamid Karzai came out as the winner in the previous lection in 2004 and is to step down when his five-year term ends in October 2009.