‘Politics only answer for Afghanistan’

İpek Yezdani - ipek.yezdani@tdn.com.tr ISTANBUL- Hürriyet Daily News

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle seen in this file photo. AP photo

The problems in Afghanistan cannot be solved through military means, German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle has said, noting that reaching a political solution to the country’s myriad issues was the only way forward.

 “There is too much confrontation in the region where Afghanistan is located. We want cooperation to take the place of confrontation in this region. And this can only be achieved with political means,” Westerwelle told a group of journalists at the Istanbul Conference for Afghanistan yesterday, adding that they would like Pakistan to be more engaged and committed to the process. “It is necessary that all countries in the region support this process,” Westerwelle told the Hürriyet Daily News in an interview yesterday.

‘Turkey proved its key role’

Turkey has showed and proven again that it has a key role not only in the nearby region, but also in the successful development of Afghanistan, Westerwelle said. “It is very important and very constructive that Turkey invited all other partners in the region to Istanbul,” he said. Westerwelle said the conference would be successful in drafting a common resolution with clear principles. “Will we be able to follow the principles of cooperation to end the confrontation in the region? This is the key question. If we want success and peaceful development in Afghanistan, it is necessary for all countries in the region to support this process,” Westerwelle said, adding that they had taken an important step forward in this regard in Istanbul. The Istanbul conference will be followed by the December “Bonn+10” Conference in Germany bringing together 1,000 delegates from 90 countries.