The president of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai, has made surprise signals of openness towards Israel. The Italian newspaper Il Giornale reports that he expressed his willingness to recognise Israel at the end of a news conference following the parliamentary and provincial elections, "taking cue from the recent diplomatic developments between Pakistan and Israel."
"Other Muslim states have relations with Israel," the Afghan president said. "We are open to contact and we appreciate the Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip: as soon as the Palestinian State is recognised, we will have no problem in resuming relations with Israel."
Pakistan has already responded to the Gaza pullout by signalling a move towards normalising relations with Israel, which it does not currently recognise. Last week Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf and Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon met and exchanged pleasantries in New York at the UN summit. Karzai's comments also follow calls from Qatar's foreign minister last week for his other fellow Arab countries to respond to the Gaza withdrawal by starting talks with Israel. |