Beijing: The Foreign Ministers of China and Pakistan held a trilateral meeting with the acting Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Taliban regime Amir Khan Muttaqi in Beijing on Wednesday on the sidelines of the third regional meeting of Afghanistan’s neighboring countries.
“At this trilateral meeting held in China, the Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said he is interested in the trilateral meeting, thus the three Ministers through this mechanism continue their cooperation,” the Talibani Foreign Ministry said on Twitter, adding, “Mr. Wang Yi called for the extension of political and economic cooperation between these three countries.”
The third Foreign Ministers’ meeting of Afghanistan’s neighboring countries was attended by representatives from neighboring countries including Iran, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, China, and Russia.
A delegation of the Taliban regime of Afghanistan, led by the acting Minister of Foreign Affairs, Amir Khan Muttaqi was also invited to participate in the meeting being held in Beijing.
Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, the Foreign Minister of Iran, said on Twitter that Afghanistan deserves more cooperation and attention from foreign countries, Tolo News reported.
“I am glad to be in China to participate in the foreign ministers meeting of Afghanistan’s neighboring countries. Afghanistan deserves further attention from the international community. Iran and China stress independence, unity, and people’s right to choose their destiny and hope to see a stable, developed Afghanistan with good engagement with its neighbors” he said.
Notably, a meeting between the representatives of the US, Russia, China, and Pakistan is also expected on the sidelines of the meeting under the extended troika format.
Political analysts believe that the participants of the meetings on Afghanistan are pursuing their personal interests.
“All the regional and world meetings have been political and all the countries who participated were after their personal gain,” Javid Sangdel, an international relations analyst told Tolo News.
The regional meeting comes at the time of a deteriorating humanitarian situation in Afghanistan, with the country facing rampant poverty, food shortage, and dried-up humanitarian support as a result of US sanctions on the Taliban.
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