Pakistan should be involved in efforts to mend Afghanistan, AP cited a veteran diplomat and former U.N. envoy to the war-torn country as saying today. In an interview with The Associated Press, Lakhdar Brahimi said any troop surge is not enough in itself to quell soaring violence in the country. He called for a «coherent strategy» of regional cooperation. «You need also full participation by Pakistan, more than anybody else» he said while attending a gathering of political and business leaders on Italy's Lake Como. Brahimi acknowledged that involving Pakistan, whose own northwestern areas are troubled and overrun by the Taliban, and Iran, with its controversial presidential election and alleged nuclear weapons program, is problematic. But, he added, «you can find ways of doing it once you accept that it is essential.» He insisted the Taliban should have been included in talks, but said «it is more difficult now than it was four or five years ago.»
