Interim Afghan FM’s visit on the cards

Amir Khan Muttaqi’s trip will help reset ties following Taliban’s takeover of Kabul

ISLAMABAD:

The Interim Foreign Minister of Afghanistan is expected to undertake a visit to Pakistan in the coming days as part of the efforts by the two sides to reset their ties in the wake of the Afghan Taliban’s takeover of Kabul in August this year.

Last month, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi visited Kabul and held wide ranging talks with the interim Afghan leadership. During the visit, Foreign Minister Qureshi also invited his Afghan counterpart, Amir Khan Muttaqi, to pay a return visit.

Official sources told The Express Tribune that the visit of Muttaqi was on the cards as both sides were in contact to finalise details. This will be the first visit by the interim Afghan foreign minister to Pakistan since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan on August 15.

Muttaqi will be accompanied by several senior Taliban officials to discuss a wide range of issues with Pakistani authorities, the sources said. However, they added, the visit should not be seen as formal recognition of the Taliban government.

Though, Pakistan has not formally recognised the Taliban government, it is one of the few countries which maintain their diplomatic mission as well as envoy in Kabul. The sources said the likely visit by Muttaqi was part of the ongoing engagements by Pakistan with the Kabul administration.

Pakistan feels that engagement opposed to the dis-engagement is the best way forward in dealing with the current situation of Afghanistan. However, a senior official said that Pakistan shared concerns of the international community that the Taliban government needed to fulfil the commitments they made.

Those commitments include an inclusive government, protecting women’s rights and not allowing the Afghan soil to be used again by any terrorist outfit. The official, while speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Taliban government also understood the international community’s concerns and was willing to address them but there were some issues when it came to the interpretation of the inclusive government.

The sources said that the interim Afghan foreign minister along with other officials was invited to Islamabad to discuss a host of issues, covering the bilateral relationship. For years Pakistan’s relations with Afghanistan had been marred by mistrust.

But Qureshi, after his October 21 visit to Kabul, reported a “visible change” in the approach of the interim Taliban government. He told a news conference at the time that the new administration was ready to take steps to improve the ties, something the previous government was reluctant to do.

The Afghan Taliban also gave firm guarantees that they would not allow groups such as the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) to launch attacks from the Afghan soil against Pakistan.