Pakistan Set To Host Trilateral Dialogue With China, Afghanistan – Al Jazeera
Following the arrival of the Chinese and Afghan foreign ministers, Qin Gang and Mawlawi Amir Khan Muttaqi, in Islamabad on Friday, Pakistan is scheduled to host a day-long trilateral discussion with China and Afghanistan.
The two foreign ministers will hold bilateral talks with their counterparts from Pakistan, Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, in addition to attending the fifth round of the trilateral conference on Saturday.
The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) gave Muttaqi, Afghanistan’s acting foreign minister, a travel prohibition exemption earlier this month, allowing him to visit Pakistan. Under UNSC sanctions, he has long been subject to a travel ban, asset freeze, and arms embargo.
According to Ziad Ahmad Takkal, deputy spokesperson for the Afghan foreign ministry, “the government of Afghanistan wishes to have thorough negotiations on bilateral political-commercial relations, regional stability, and transit between Afghanistan and Pakistan.
While Muttaqi’s trip to Pakistan will be the Chinese foreign minister’s first, he last visited Pakistan in November 2021, just a few months after the Afghan Taliban seized power in Kabul.
The UN held a summit on Afghanistan in Doha, Qatar, the same week as the Afghan minister’s trip to Pakistan, but the Taliban’s leaders were not invited.
The Taliban’s repression of women’s rights in Afghanistan, particularly the prohibition on education, was denounced by General Antonio Guterres.
“Let me be very clear: We will never remain silent in the face of historically significant systemic assaults on the rights of women and girls. When millions of women and girls are being silenced and hidden from view, we will always speak out, added Guterres.
The head of the UN stated unequivocally that the Taliban would not be acknowledged as the country’s leaders.
Reporters in Doha were given this quote from Guterres: “The meeting was about developing a common international approach, not about recognition of the de facto Taliban authorities.”