ISLAMABAD - Foreign Ministers of Pakistan, China and Afghanistan on Saturday held discussions covering areas of political engagement, counter-terrorism, trade and connectivity.
Pakistan hosted the 5th China-Pakistan-Afghanistan Trilateral Foreign Ministers dialogue here at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, China's Foreign Minister Qin Gang and Acting Foreign Minister of Afghanistan Amir Khan Muttaqi held productive discussions on matters of mutual concern.
According to Foreign Office, “Pakistan looks forward to advancing our common agenda for regional cooperation under trilateral framework.”
Chinese and Afghan foreign ministers, Qin Gang and Mawlawi Amir Khan Muttaqi, had arrived in Pakistan a day earlier to participate the meeting. In addition to attending the fifth round of the trilateral dialogue between the three countries, the two foreign ministers also held bilateral discussions with their Pakistani counterpart Bilawal Bhutto Zardari.
Muttaqi, Afghanistan’s interim foreign minister, was granted a travel ban exemption by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) earlier this month allowing him to travel to Pakistan. He has long been subjected to a travel ban, asset freeze and arms embargo under UNSC sanctions.
While this was the Chinese foreign minister’s first visit to Pakistan, Muttaqi last travelled to Pakistan in November 2021, just a few months after the Afghan Taliban took control in Kabul.
The visit to Pakistan by the Afghan minister comes in the same week the UN hosted a conference on Afghanistan in Doha, Qatar, without inviting the Afghan government.
Pakistan and Afghanistan share a 2,600 km-long border, also known as the Durand Line. However, Muttaqi’s visit comes at a time when Pakistan has seen a dramatic increase in violent attacks in the northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the southwestern province of Balochistan, both of which border Afghanistan.
Authorities in Pakistan say the attacks are launched from within Afghan territory by Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), an armed group ideologically aligned with the Afghan Taliban.
However, despite the exchange of terse words between the authorities of both countries, Pakistan has continued to hold talks with the Afghan Taliban without officially recognising them as the country’s lawful government.
In his address to the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in India over the weekend, Foreign Minister Bhutto Zardari urged the international community to “meaningfully engage” with the interim Afghan government.
“After being the playground for great powers, time and time again, we owe it to the people of Afghanistan to not repeat the mistakes of the past,” he said in the speech in the Indian city of Goa.
China, the third participant in the dialogue, also has significant interests in the other two countries. Beijing is Pakistan’s key economic and defence partner and has invested heavily in Pakistan, headlining with $ 60 billion in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project. The multiple attacks by armed groups have targeted Chinese nationals and their interests in Pakistan in recent years.
In March 2022, then-Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi also made a surprise visit to Kabul where he met the Taliban leaders “to discuss various issues, including the extension of political relations, economic, and transit cooperation”.
Official sources told The Nation that Pakistan urged Afghanistan to stop the militants from using its soil against Pakistan.
The three sides also discussed Afghanistan’s engagement in the CPEC which will benefit Afghanistan as well as the whole region.
One official said FM Bilawal will hold a bilateral meeting with FM Muttaqi today (May 7) to discuss the issues between the two Muslim-majority countries.
“The FM will share evidences with the Afghan counterpart regarding Afghan link to the recent terror attacks,” said the official.
Enhancing the trade ties will also be discussed when the two FMs meet, said another official.
