ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said on Tuesday the Afghan Taliban would be invited to the third clerical meeting of Afghanistan’s neighbours.
Mr Qureshi, at a meeting of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, said “ Afghanistan’s interim government will also be invited to the coming meeting of Afghanistan’s neighbours.”
Pakistan had worked out a new medium for consultations among Afghanistan’s neighbours on the developments in the war- destroyed country after the Taliban preemption in mid-August. The format includes China, Iran, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, besides Russia. The initial meeting was held in Islamabad on September 8, while the alternate meeting was hosted by Iran on October 27.
The Taliban weren’t invited to either of the meetings because the new governance demanded transnational recognition. The actors of the alternate meeting had in their common advertisement called on the “ transnational community to remain appreciatively engaged with Afghanistan and develop a long-term roadmap to advance the docket of political engagement, profitable integration and indigenous connectivity”.
The coming meeting will take place in China. Although dates haven’t been finalised, it’s likely to be held beforehand coming time.
Though the Taliban are still not recognised, countries around the world are decreasingly engaging with the new government. Either, several foreign ministers visited Kabul over the once several weeks and representatives of the extended troika on Afghanistan — China, Pakistan, the United States and Russia — met Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi on the sidelines of their meeting in Islamabad last week.
Mr Muttaqi had latterly while speaking at a think tank on Friday, said that de facto recognition for the Taliban was formerly there and hoped that de jure acceptance would follow soon.
Mr Qureshi, speaking at the National Defence University, underlined the need for the recognition of the reality that the war in Afghanistan has “ ended and the Taliban are in power”.
About Pakistan’s policy on Afghanistan, the foreign minister told the Senate panel that the “ strategy has been to maintain formative engagement with Afghanistan”. He said Islamabad had been constantly telling the world that it was in its interest to engage with the Taliban while calling on the ultimate to address the enterprises of the transnational community.
Follow us on FACEBOOK for quick updates.
