Abdullah's Foreign Ministry denied he contacted his Israeli counterpart

By Mutiallah Tayeb, IOL Correspondent

KABUL, April 17 (IslamOnline.net) - Afghanistan denied Wednesday, April 17, reportedly normalizing relations with Israel, saying that there are no official ties with the Jewish state whatsoever.

"The country has no formal contacts with the Israeli side," the Afghan Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman said Monday, April 14, that Afghan Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah told his Israeli counterpart of Afghanistan's interest to jointly work with "peace-loving nations".

"The confusion in this respect might have arisen after Afghan diplomats at the U.N. sent verbal messages to foreign countries calling for supporting their country's efforts to join the membership of the UNESCO," read the statement.

It said that Afghanistan restored bilateral relations with many countries only on the grounds that "they support regional and international peace and stability as well as justice and international development".

But Afghanistan now has no formal contacts with Israel, said the statement, citing as an exception the accidental meeting between Afghan President Hamid Karzai and the Israeli minister of housing in Kazakhstan in July 2000.

Karzai then said he would hold formal talks with an Israeli official following the end of 2004 elections, with no elaboration.

Israel enjoys diplomatic relations with Afghanistan's neighbors Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. It has no relations with other Central Asian countries such as Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan.

Observers said Israel suffered isolation among Arab and Islamic countries with its steadily increasing aggressions against the Palestinians and occupation of Palestinian lands, Syria's Golan Heights and Lebanon's southern Shebaa farms.

They added the Jewish state pinned great hopes on opening channels of communication with the Central Asia Islamic countries which feels they are less oriented towards commitment to political Islam.

There is "an Islam that we can hold a constructive dialogue with," the Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman said.