Afghanistan no puppet, Karzai says

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, March 11 (UPI) -- Afghanistan will not be caught in the middle of the acrimony threatening stability in the region, Afghan President Hamid Karzai said Thursday in Islamabad.

Karzai arrived Thursday in Islamabad on his first trip to neighboring Pakistan since winning a second term in elections in 2009.

Karzai said during a news conference with Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani that Afghanistan would not be a client state, Pakistan's Dawn newspaper reports.

"Afghanistan does not want any proxy wars on its territory. It does not want a proxy war between India and Pakistan on Afghanistan," he said.

Pakistan has expressed concern that the international military offensive in Afghanistan could push militants across the border into the volatile tribal provinces. India, Pakistan's nuclear-armed foe, suggested Pakistan was trying to undermine Indian influence in the Afghanistan following attacks on Indian targets in Kabul in February.

Gilani said his country was "consulting legal experts" to discuss Kabul's request to extradite Taliban leader Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, arrested last month in Karachi during a joint CIA raid with the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence agency.

Gilani added, however, that Pakistan remained committed to working with Afghanistan in the interest of peace.

"In the pursuit of peace and development, for national reconciliation and reintegration, Pakistan places its full weight behind the agenda and the vision outlined by the Afghan people and their elected leadership," he said.