Britain signals intent to engage with Taliban

ISLAMABAD: UK Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs Dominic Raab on Friday signalled the UK's intent to engage with the Taliban government in Afghanistan, as he held a joint press conference with Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi.

Raab said it would not have been possible to evacuate some 15,000 people from Kabul without some degree of cooperation with the Taliban, who seized Kabul on August 15. "We do see the importance of being able to engage and having a direct line of communication," he said, according to national media.

Foreign Minister Qureshi said that through such dialogues with the British government representatives, Pakistan upgrades its relations with the UK to a higher level. He said Pakistan had made "tremendous progress" on getting out of FATF’s grey list. "We have taken legislative steps, administrative steps, and concrete steps that are being taken," he said.

FM Qureshi said he discussed Pakistan’s name on the UK's Red List, adding that he told the British foreign secretary how people in Pakistan felt about it and "what needs to be done to take Pakistan's name off the Red List and into the Amber List."

Speaking after the foreign minister had concluded his opening statement, Raab said that the UK valued its historic relations with Pakistan, adding that he had a positive and constructive discussion with FM Qureshi. "We want to further strengthen our ties with Pakistan," he said.

He thanked Pakistan for safely evacuating British citizens from Afghanistan, adding that the UK will continue to provide aid to Afghanistan on humanitarian grounds. "We will continue to help Afghanistan’s neighbouring countries, including Pakistan," he vowed. "We want to see a prosperous Afghanistan."

Hoping the Taliban will bring stability and an end to violence in Afghanistan, the UK foreign secretary said it was premature to talk about recognising the Taliban at the moment. Speaking about Pakistan's inclusion in the Red List, Raab said Dr Faisal Sultan would hold a meeting with UK authorities to discuss the technical aspects of the case.

"We will be able to take the decision on excluding Pakistan's name from the Red List on technical grounds," he said. In response to a question, the foreign minister said he had raised the issue of atrocities in Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJ&K) that are being committed by India. Qureshi said he discussed how Ali Geelani was denied a "decent burial" by Indian security forces, adding that it was a violation of an individual's basic right.

Raab said that the UK has a longstanding policy of encouraging India and Pakistan both to pursue a longstanding solution to the Kashmir crisis. "It is not for the UK to impose its solution to the Kashmir crisis," he said, adding that London encouraged both Islamabad and New Delhi to hold concrete dialogue over the issue.