ISLAMABAD - Pakistan and Afghanistan on Tuesday agreed to make contacts with militant groups including Taliban in a bid to end bloodshed and violence in their restive border areas. The neighbouring states reached the decision here at the end of two-day meeting of Pak-Afghan 'mini-jirga' or 'jirga gai'. Around 50 officials and tribal elders, 25 from each side, attended the meeting. The meeting was a follow-up of the 'grand tribal jirga' held in Kabul in August 2007 and it was convened to discuss the volatile security situation in the border areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan. "We agreed that contacts should be established with the opposition in both countries, joint contacts through the mini-tribal council," said Abdullah Abdullah, the leader of the Afghan delegation and former Afghan Foreign Minister. Abdullah said that the door for negotiations was now wide open for opposition forces in Afghanistan. When asked to clarify whether the opposition included the Taliban and other militant groups, Owais Ghani, the leader of Pakistani delegation and Governor NWFP said, "Yes, it includes all those who are involved in this conflict situation." "We will sit, we will talk to them, they will listen to us and we will come to some sort of solution. Without dialogue we cannot have any sort of conclusion," Ghani said. Abdullah said that the mini-jirga had recommended to both the countries to deny sanctuary to the terrorists and militant elements that were a threat to Afghanistan and Pakistan. A joint statement issued after the meeting said that terrorism was a global threat and both the countries were its victims. "Each side will continue to deny providing a sanctuary to terrorists and that the council will meet in three months' time to evaluate the progress on issues decided," it said. "There is an urgent and imperative need for dialogue and negotiations with the opposition groups in both the countries with a view to finding a peaceful settlement of the ongoing conflict, upholding the supremacy of the constitutions of both the countries," the statement said. "For this purpose, a committee of prominent individuals would be constituted to initiate contacts with these groups," it said. The jirga gai entrusted the Governor NWFP and former Afghan Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah with the responsibility to nominate members of the committee and name its contact groups but these would be kept secret, according to the statement. Islamic teachings, customs, traditions and revaj would be used as appropriate means to pursue the course of dialogue to promote peace and reconciliation, it said. The Jirga gai decided to strengthen the role of Ulema in the process by seeking their cooperation.   It also agreed to give support to the local populations in order to revive and strengthen local structures and enable them to deal with the presence of terrorists and restore peace and stability in their respective areas. According to the statement, another committee would be constituted to oversee the implementation of the decisions of the Joint Peace Jirga, held in Kabul last year, in other areas of mutual cooperation.   "These include strengthening relations between the two countries, undertaking economic development activities like trade, transport and transit, parliamentary, cultural, educational sports exchanges, and working together to counter the cultivation, processing and trafficking of illicit drugs," it said.