KABUL  - Pakistan on Thursday called again for an apology for a Nato cross-border strike that killed two dozen of its soldiers last year before it considers reopening supply routes to foreign troops in Afghanistan.Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar, speaking to reporters in the Afghan capital Kabul, also rejected reports that Pakistan was haggling with the US over transportation fees for the supplies. “Pakistan still wants an unconditional apology and the reassurance that the Salala type of incident does not happen again,” she said, referring to the border area where the incident took place. Khar said Pakistan was not supporting any militant group and that it was doing whatever it could to advance the peace process in Afghanistan which she said must be ‘Afghan-led, Afghan-owned.’Hina accused governments of doing a ‘terrible job’ at working together to tackle militancy in Afghanistan as she called for a more unified approach. She reiterated Pakistan’s stance that it has suffered enormously as a result of terrorism, and said a more united front was needed among international allies. “We have been making the claim that we need to all work together to ensure that we win against them rather than they win against us,” she told reporters.“At this point in time, if there is a policy of divide and rule they are doing a great job at it and we are doing a terrible job at combining our energy, our forces, our resources to be able to face them as one.”Khar responded on Thursday by saying she was “glad we are not losing patience with anyone, despite losing 24 soldiers”.She was referring to Nato air strikes on a Pakistani border post in November which killed 24 troops and led to Islamabad closing the ground routes through its territory used to supply coalition forces in Afghanistan.Afghan President Hamid Karzai called Thursday for greater international cooperation to stabilise his war-torn country and defeat militants, during the latest round of talks on the future of Afghanistan.Representatives from 29 countries gathered in Kabul for the day-long conference, just weeks after Nato agreed at a summit in Chicago to stick to plans to withdraw the bulk of 130,000 foreign combat troops from Afghanistan by the end of 2014. Foreign ministers or their deputies from 15 countries including China, India, Pakistan, Iran and Russia are attending the ‘Heart of Asia’ conference.Afghan President Karzai said the help of neighbouring countries and international powers was vital to economic growth and peace in his impoverished country. He also called on Pakistan, one of the historic sponsors of the Taliban, directly to support nascent efforts to end the 10-year war in Afghanistan. “Support from these global powers and our neighbours is very important to Afghanistan and to the continued progress of Afghanistan towards stability and economic development,” Karzai told delegates.“Cooperation of all of us countries in the region, the neighbours, and our allies and Nato that will bring stability not only to Afghanistan but the much-needed relief from terrorism and radicalism and violence.”He also sought to reassure neighbours, Iran in particular, that strategic partnership deals signed by Kabul with several Western powers, particularly the United States, to govern relations beyond 2014, would not damage ties. The president said the head of the Afghan High Peace Council would soon visit Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, but gave no dates, and urged Islamabad to support peace efforts.Karzai asked neighbouring and international powers to invest in economic growth and peace in his impoverished country.Afghanistan is confident it can take full control of its security next year, President Hamid Karzai said on Thursday, despite steadily rising Taliban violence.“We are certain that this transition will be completed in 2013 whereby the entire country, the Afghan population their security, well-being and matters related to governance will be handled by the Afghan government alone,” Karzai said.He said that 2014 would see the “complete withdrawal” of foreign forces from Afghanistan, although the international community will continue to provide a certain amount of support. Karzai said greater cooperation would help in the fight against terrorism in Afghanistan and the region. Meanwhile, Iran on Thursday warned a key international conference that a long-term US military presence in Afghanistan would fan regional insecurity and could plunge the war-torn country back into further chaos.But the foreign minister of Iran, an enemy of the United States that welcomes NATO’s departure from its eastern border, alluded to the Kabul-Washington pact by saying it added to security concerns among Afghanistan’s neighbours.“A particular country intends to prolong its military presence in Afghanistan in pursuit of its extra regional objectives. This certainly adds to the security concerns of Afghanistan’s neighbouring countries,” said Ali Akbar Salehi.Salehi said the deal and efforts to establish foreign military bases in Afghanistan ran counter to peace efforts and “could turn this country once again into scene of security rivalries”.British Foreign Minister William Hague said he would use talks with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov on the sidelines of the conference to press Moscow to use its influence to rein in the Syrian regime.Lavrov insisted Russia was supplying “anti-air defence systems” to Damascus and accused the United States of supplying arms to the Syrian opposition.The next talks on Afghanistan will be in Tokyo next month and will focus on ways to ensure social progress — governance, economic prospects, health and education.