Pakistan ‘welcomes’ second round of US-Taliban talks in Doha
Pakistan has “ ate” a alternate round of addresses between the United States and the Taliban since the ultimate’s preemption of Afghanistan before this time, a Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) prophet says.
Addressing a daily press briefing in capital Islamabad on Thursday, MoFA spokesperson Asim Iftikhar reiterated his country’s position that the world community needs to engage with the Taliban’s government.
“ (The US-Taliban addresses) would be welcome development, as we’ve been saying, encouraging and championing enhanced engagement of the transnational community with Afghanistan in order to help address its challenges,” said Iftikhar.
US Special Representative on Afghanistan and Pakistan Tom West will arrive in the Qatari capital Doha for two days of addresses with Taliban officers coming week, US State Department spokesperson Ned Price said on Tuesday.
Price said the docket for addresses would be the US’s “ vital public interest” in Afghanistan, which “ includes counterterrorism, that includes safe passage for US citizens and for Afghans to whom we’ve a special commitment, and that includes philanthropic backing and the profitable situation of the country”.
On Thursday, the Afghan foreign ministry verified that a delegation led by acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi had left for Doha for the addresses.
“ A elderly delegation led by Foreign Minister Mawlawi Amir Khan Muttaqi left for Doha this autumn,” said foreign ministry spokesperson Abdul Qahar Balkhi.
“ The delegation consists representatives from Ministries of Education, Health, Finance, Security, and Da Afghanistan Bank (the Afghan central bank).”
The US set$9.5 bn in Afghan central bank means following the preemption, crippling the government’s capability to serve in numerous areas.
Afghan news organisation Tolo News quoted Balkhi as saying the issue of frozen Afghan means and the reopening of foreign delegacies in Kabul would be under discussion during the addresses.
Coming week’s addresses will be the alternate round of direct addresses between the two sides in Qatar following the Taliban’s preemption, with a former round held in October, although West hadn’t officially taken over as the US special representative for the region at that time.
West replaced Zalmay Khalilzad in the part, and most lately met with Muttaqi and other Taliban representatives on the sidelines of an extended troika meeting, which also included Chinese and Russian officers, in Islamabad on November
Pakistan has prompted transnational community not to‘ abandon‘Afghanistan following Taliban’s return to power in August. Islamabad, which hosts nearly3.5 million Afghan deportees, fears that a philanthropic extremity will have a spillover effect on it.
Before this week, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan blazoned further than$ 28m medical, food and other philanthropic backing for its western neighbour.
