ISLAMABAD: Acting Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Mu­­ttaqi will arrive here on Fri­day on a four-day visit to Pakistan.

He will lead a high-level delegation, which includes the Act­ing Minister for Commerce and Industry, Haji Nooruddin Azizi, and senior officials from the Afghan Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Transport and Trade.

Apart from holding bilateral meetings, the acting Afghan foreign minister will also participate in the fifth China-Pakistan-Afghanistan Trilateral Foreign Ministers’ Dialogue on May 6.

State Councilor and Foreign Minister of China Qin Gang will also arrive here on Friday on a two-day visit to participate in the trilateral foreign ministers’ dialogue.

The visit of the acting Afghan foreign minister is a continuation of Pakistan’s political engagement process with Afghanistan which, inter alia, included the visit of Pakistan’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs to Kabul on Nov 29 last year and a visit of a high-level delegation, led by the defence minister of Pakistan to Kabul on Feb 22 this year.

During the visit, the two sides will review the entire spectrum of bilateral relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan in the political, economic, trade, connectivity, peace and security, and education domains. “Pakistan is desirous of a peaceful, prosperous, stable and connected Afghanistan and reiterates its commitment to pursue continuous and practical engagement with the interim Afghan government,” a statement issued by the Foreign Office said.

Since its launch in 2017, the trilateral dialogue mechanism has achieved remarkable results and has become an important platform for the three countries to enhance understanding and deepen mutual trust and cooperation.

The dialogue this time is taking place at a time when cross-border attacks from Afghanistan are on the rise and an estimated 150 attacks have been carried out by terrorists in 2022, using the Afghan soil.

In August 2022, US President Joe Biden announced that his forces had killed Al Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri in a drone strike, which the Taliban interim administration refused to accept openly.

The Afghan officials alleged that the US had launched the attack using Pakistani airspace, but Islamabad rejected the claim, saying the US was never allowed to use its airspace against Afghanistan.

Published in Dawn, May 5th, 2023