Turkish foreign minister meets former Afghan president

By Merve Aydogan

ANKARA (AA) - Türkiye's foreign minister on Monday hosted a former Afghanistan leader in the Turkish capital Ankara.

In a Twitter post, Mevlut Cavusoglu shared a photo from his meeting with Hamid Karzai and said, "Our solidarity with Afghan people and support for the stability of Afghanistan will continue."

The Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan last year on Aug. 15 as the officials of the US-backed Kabul administration fled the country and foreign forces withdrew.

Following the departure of ex-President Ashraf Ghani, former President Karzai, veteran politician Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, and top peace negotiator Abdullah Abdullah formed a council with the aim of ensuring a smooth transfer of power.

Meanwhile, the interim Taliban government, which identifies itself as the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is facing a test of safeguarding human rights besides providing health, education, economy and agriculture services.

Since the Taliban took over the government, the ethnic, regional and sectarian divisions and political instability disappeared spontaneously. However, the visibility of the Pashtuns in the power corridors increased rapidly.