Afghanistan foreign minister to arrive in Islamabad tomorrow

ISLAMABAD: Amir Khan Muttaqi, the interim Afghanistan foreign minister, will arrive in Islamabad on Wednesday on the first visit since the Taliban retook power, and will hold talks with his Pakistan counterpart on a wide range of issues, according to officials on both sides.

A spokesman for the Afghanistan Foreign Ministry, Abdul Qahar Balkhi, said in a statement a senior-level delegation led by Muttaqi will travel to Pakistan on November 10 (Wednesday).

“(The) delegation will discuss enhancing ties, economy, transit, refugees & expanding facilities for the movement of people, & will include ministers and working groups from Finance and Trade Ministries,” Balkhi tweeted.

Foreign Office spokesman Asim Iftikhar Ahmad told reporters in Islamabad Muttaqi will discuss a string of issues with Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, including bilateral relationships, visas to Afghan nationals, and cross-border movement.

Earlier, Pakistan extended a special invitation to Muttaqi to attend the Troika Plus meeting scheduled to be held in Islamabad on November 11, which will include Pakistan’s Special Representative for Afghanistan Ambassador Mohammad Sadiq, US State Department’s Special Representative for Afghanistan Thomas West, Russia’s Special Envoy for Afghanistan Zamir Kabulov, and Chinese Special Envoy for Afghanistan Yue Xiaoyong.

The previous meeting took place on October 19 in Moscow, but the US did not participate in the event.

Flanked by then-intelligence chief Gen Faiz Hameed, Qureshi visited Kabul in October, and it will be Muttaqi’s first visit to Pakistan since the Taliban took control of Kabul in August.

During a visit to Ankara last month, Muttaqi told Anadolu Agency that official recognition of his government and international aid are of critical importance for Afghanistan’s economic recovery.

Although security worries have diminished since the Taliban took power on August 15, two days after, the US government froze about $9.5 billion of Afghanistan’s central bank assets.

Many donors and international organisations, including the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, have stopped making payments to the interim Taliban regime.

“The real question is, why was this money blocked? What did the Afghanistan citizens do?” he asked rhetorically.

“On the other hand, the US and other countries say that humanitarian aid should be given to Afghanistan and human rights should be respected. But, they leave 40 million Afghan people without basic necessities.”

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