Afghan military officers to be trained in Pakistan

Kabul, July 1 (ANI): Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai has agreed to send some military officers to Pakistan for training.

According to the Washington Post, this is a significant policy shift, and signals a deepening relationship between the long-wary neighbors.

The paper further says that the move should be seen as a victory for Pakistan, which seeks a major role in Afghanistan as officials in both countries become increasingly convinced that the U.S. war effort there is faltering.

Afghan officials said Karzai has begun to see Pakistan as a necessary ally in ending the war through negotiation with the Taliban or on the battlefield.

"This is meant to demonstrate confidence to Pakistan, in the hope of encouraging them to begin a serious consultation and conversation with us on the issue of [the] Taliban," Rangin Dadfar Spanta, Karzai's national security adviser, said of the training agreement.

Key U.S. officials involved in Afghanistan said they knew nothing of the arrangement. (ANI)