TEHRAN (AFP) ? Pakistani president Asif Ali Zardari and his Afghan counterpart Hamid Karzai held a three-way summit with Iran on Friday ahead of attending an anti-terrorism conference, state news agency IRNA reported.
Zardari, Karzai and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad discussed "ways of battling terrorism, extremism and drug trafficking," IRNA said.
A statement posted on the Iranian presidency website said the three "expressed concern over a rising lack of security, extremism and terrorism, and insisted on the need for cooperation to combat these phenomena."
The tripartite summit is being held amid announcements by the United States that it will draw down by 33,000 its contingent of 99,000 troops in Afghanistan by the end of summer 2012.
Several hundred French soldiers have also been recalled from Afghanistan recently, while Britain and Germany, which have the largest presence there after the United States, have also declared their intention to reduce their contingents by the end of the year.
"The Afghan people wants the departure of foreign forces, and therefore Iran and Pakistan can play an important role in establishing a durable peace in Afghanistan," the Iranian presidency website quoted Karzai as saying.
Ahmadinejad agreed that all three nations must "cooperate closely on security matters," it said.
Zardari was quoted as saying that Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan must boost ties and cooperation because all three countries "are the main victims of terrorism and war."
Iran has always been hostile to the presence of NATO forces in neighbouring Afghanistan, saying this strengthened terrorist groups such as the Taliban and Al-Qaeda more than it weakened them.
Tehran itself suffers from the activities of armed Sunni Muslim group Jundallah around its border with Pakistan and Afghanistan. Jundallah is on the United States' list of outlawed terrorist groups.
On Saturday Zardari and Karzai will attend an international anti-terrorism conference alongside Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani and Tajik President Emomali Rahmon, Iranian media reported.
All three arrived in the Iranian capital on Friday afternoon for the gathering, which will also be attended by other nations as observers.
Bashir is wanted by the International Criminal Court, which has issued two arrest warrants on charges of crimes against humanity and genocide in the Darfur region, where a bloody conflict has raged for eight years.
Iran, which is on Washington's list of state sponsors of terrorism, regularly accuses Israel and the US of plotting terrorist attacks against its territory.
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