Krishna meets Qureshi in Kabul at Karzai’s swearing-in

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NEW DELHI - Indian and Pakistani foreign ministers met in Kabul Thursday on the sidelines of the inauguration ceremony of Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

According to sources, External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna met Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on the sidelines of the inaugural function of Karzai’s second term, but asserted that it was a completely informal meeting. Qureshi was accompanying his President Asif Ali Zardari to the Afghan capital.

It was learnt that the conversation largely pertained to the forthcoming official meeting of the two ministers at Port-of-Spain on the sidelines of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CGOGM) on Nov 28.

Thursday’s meeting comes within two days of India handing over its seventh dossier to Pakistan, in which it reportedly gave further evidence of the role of Jamaat-ud-Dawa leader Hafiz Saeed in the Mumbai terror attacks, whose first year anniversary will be marked next week.

Krishna also met US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at Karzai inauguration. They are scheduled to meet again next week when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh goes to Washington on a state visit.