Pakistan’s foreign minister meets with Taliban counterpart in Afghanistan

By Saadet Gokce

ISTANBUL (AA) – Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar met on Saturday with Maulvi Amir Khan Muttaqi, Afghanistan’s Taliban-led interim foreign minister, in the Afghan capital Kabul.

The sides discussed various issues including security, trade, and transit, said a Pakistani Foreign Ministry statement.

Taliban spokesman Hamdullah Fitrat said on X that the sides also discussed the refugee situation.

Pakistan had said on Friday that over 84,000 Afghan nationals had been deported since late March.

Fitrat said that Muttaqi expressed Kabul’s “deep concern and regret” over the refugee situation and urged Islamabad to “prevent the loss of the rights of Afghans” in Pakistan and those returning to Afghanistan.

Dar in turn gave assurances that the Afghan refugees will not be “mistreated,” said the spokesman.

The sides decided to set up joint committees to tackle issues such as trade, transit, and various projects, including the Trans-Afghan railway, Central Asia-South Asia power project, Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India Gas Pipeline, and Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan Natural Gas Pipeline.

Dar sought to underscore the “paramount importance of addressing all pertinent issues, particularly those related to security and border management” for regional trade, Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry said on X.