Afghan FM leads 'high-level' delegation to Pakistan today

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Thursday that Acting Afghan Foreign Minister Mawlawi Amir Khan Muttaqi will lead a high-level delegation to Pakistan today (Friday).

In a statement, the Foreign Office said the delegation will remain in Pakistan from May 5 to 8, with the visit coming almost a month after a high-level delegation from Islamabad visited Kabul.

The Kabul delegation will include Acting Afghan Minister for Commerce and Industry Haji Nooruddin Azizi, and senior officials from the Afghan Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Transport, and Trade.

Apart from holding bilateral meetings, the acting Afghan foreign minister will also participate in the 5th China-Pakistan-Afghanistan Trilateral Foreign Ministers’ Dialogue on May 6.

State Councilor and Foreign Minister of China Qin Gang will also participate in the Trilateral Foreign Minister’s Dialogue.

"The visit of the acting Afghan foreign minister is a continuation of Pakistan's political engagement process with Afghanistan, which, inter alia, included visit of Pakistan’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs to Kabul on 29 November 2022 and visit of a high-level delegation led by the Defence Minister of Pakistan to Kabul on 22 February 2023," the FO said.

During the visit, the two sides will review the entire spectrum of bilateral relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan in the political, economic, trade, connectivity, peace and security, and education domains.

The Foreign Office said Pakistan is desirous of a peaceful, prosperous, stable and connected Afghanistan and reiterates its commitment to pursue continuous and practical engagement with the interim Afghan government.

The development comes after a United Nations Security Council committee agreed to allow the Taliban administration's foreign minister's meeting with foreign ministers and diplomats of Pakistan and China.

The Afghan minister has long remained under a travel ban, arms embargo and asset freeze following sanctions by the UN Security Council.

According to a letter to the 15-member Security Council Taliban sanctions committee, Pakistan's UN mission requested an exemption for Muttaqi was to travel between May 6-9 "for a meeting with the foreign ministers of Pakistan and China."

Afghanistan sits as a key geographical trade and transit route between South and Central Asia and has billions of dollars of untapped mineral resources. The Taliban seized power in August 2021 as US-led forces withdrew after 20 years of war.

The Security Council committee allowed Muttaqi to travel to Uzbekistan last month for a meeting of the foreign ministers of neighbouring countries of Afghanistan to discuss urgent peace, security, and stability matters.