KABUL: Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi arrived in the Afghan capital on Thursday for talks with his Taliban partner, his office said, when militants looked for a way out of international isolation.
“Talks between the two parties will cover the entire spectrum of bilateral relations and focus on ways and ways to deepen cooperation in various regions,” Pakistani Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
He will also meet “other Afghan officials,” during his day’s visit, the statement said.
Qureshi was also accompanied by a spy chief out Pakistan, who was on his second visit to the Afghan capital since the Taliban took power over.
Pakistan, one of only three countries recognized the last Taliban regime in the 1990s, was seen by using a major influence on the group.
It has long faced US charges that its intelligence services supported Islamic rebels in their two decades fight against NATO forces and the government supported by the West who were now being overthrown.
QureShi is the third foreign minister after Qatar and Uzbekistan to visit since the Taliban took power in mid-August.
On Wednesday, the Russian government hosted a delegation and high-level Taliban officials from 10 countries, including China and Pakistan, to encourage militants to act against Islamic state fighters who were said to have been mass in a fluctuating Afghanistan.
In return, the Taliban – facing the economic and humanitarian crisis in its borders – urged the international community to recognize their temporary government.
“Afghan isolation is not an interest in any part of the party.
And this has been proven in the past,” Deputy Prime Minister of Taliban Abdul Salam Hanafi said at the Moscow conference.
“Therefore, we call the international community to recognize the current Afghan government.”