ISLAMABAD: Representatives of the Taliban government will be invited to the next troika plus meeting on Afghanistan, Pakistan’s foreign minister said on Thursday.
Shah Mahmood Qureshi’s announcement came as American, Chinese, and Russian envoys took part in a meeting of the influential group in the Pakistani capital Islamabad.
The tripartite consists of the US, China, and Russia, with Pakistan involved through its extended platform, the troika plus.
The meeting in Islamabad was the group’s first since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan on Aug. 15. It was also the latest in a series of diplomatic talks on the Afghan situation, after neighboring India held a conference for regional countries on Wednesday, which Pakistan and China did not attend.
Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi is also currently in Islamabad on his first Pakistan visit. While he did not take part in Thursday’s meeting, he is expected to meet the participating foreign diplomats on its sidelines.
Qureshi told a press conference: “It has been decided that in the next session of troika plus in Beijing, the Taliban will be officially invited so that they can be involved directly in this process.
“By their physical presence in troika plus they can share their concerns directly with the international community.”
He warned that Afghanistan was on the brink of economic failure and said that the international community must urgently resume funding, provide humanitarian assistance, and enable Kabul to access its assets frozen in foreign banks.
Qureshi said: “Enabling Afghanistan to access its frozen funds will dovetail into our efforts to regenerate economic activities and move the Afghan economy toward stability and sustainability. Today, Afghanistan stands at the brink of an economic collapse.”
The minister noted that Pakistan was already taking steps to help ease the situation, such as reopening its borders for Afghan trade, and providing aid to its neighbor.
But he pointed out that it was “a collective and shared responsibility of all countries,” as instability could lead to another conflict in the war-battered country.
“Nobody wishes to see a relapse into civil war, no one wants an economic collapse that will spur instability. Everyone wants terrorist elements operating inside Afghanistan to be tackled effectively, and we all want to prevent a new refugee crisis,” Qureshi added.
On the troika meeting in Islamabad and the offer to invite the Taliban to its next round of discussions, Pakistan’s former foreign secretary, Tehmina Janjua, told Arab News: “It showed the importance Pakistan attached to finding a solution to the Afghanistan situation.
The presence of Taliban in Islamabad at the same time has also made it more relevant.”
Afghan affairs expert, Muhammad Ayaz Wazir, said the troika plus forum was an established and influential platform and that during his Islamabad visit the Afghan foreign minister would be able to meet its members and discuss with them the possibility of recognizing Afghanistan’s new government.
“Along with discussing ways to help Afghanistan to avoid a humanitarian crisis they will also discuss possibilities of recognizing the Taliban government,” Wazir added.
On Pakistan and China’s absence from Wednesday’s summit in New Delhi, international relations expert, Prof. Zafar Jaspal, said: “Indian invitation has neither attracted Pakistan nor China, so after that the significance of the troika meeting in Islamabad multiplied, and now it is going to establish that the major stakeholders in Afghanistan are Pakistan, China, the US, Russia, and Afghans themselves.”
