ISLAMABAD: Hina Rabbani Khar, deputy foreign minister, will arrive in the Afghanistan capital of Kabul on Tuesday on a diplomatically sensitive trip to the neighbouring nation, the Foreign Office said.
She will lead a delegation, expected to be comprised of senior members of the administration, with the aim to bolster diplomatic and trade ties.
The Foreign Office statement said Khar will hold “political dialogue” with the “interim” Taliban government and discuss bilateral ties — including cooperation in the fields of education, trade and investment, regional connectivity, people-to-people contacts, and regional security.
She will also reaffirm Islamabad’s “continued commitment and support for measures aimed at strengthening peace and enhancing prosperity in Afghanistan,” it added.
According to diplomatic sources, the minister will also hold meetings with Prime Minister Hasan Akhund and Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi.
“As a friend and neighbour of Afghanistan, Pakistan will reaffirm its abiding solidarity with the people of Afghanistan, in particular through its efforts to ease the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan and to create real opportunities for the economic prosperity of Afghan men, women and children,” the statement said.
Since the Taliban seized power in August last year, its ties with Islamabad have deteriorated amid border clashes and a spike in cross-border attacks by Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants. Islamabad has repeatedly asked the Taliban to withdraw support to such elements widely reported to be operating freely inside the war-torn country.
Experts believe the group, instead of providing any strategic advantage or contributing to Pakistan’s security, has become a worrisome thorn in Islamabad’s side.
And, because of this, the longstanding alliance between the group and Islamabad, which dates back to the emergence of the Taliban in southern Afghanistan in the mid-1990s, is coming under unprecedented strain as their interests diverge.
