Taliban FM granted air travel exemption by UNSC

ISLAMABAD: Caretaker Foreign Minister of Taliban administration Mullah Aamir Khan Muttaqi has been granted air travel exemption by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) sanction committee for visiting Moscow and New Delhi next week.

He will attend 7th Moscow Format high level meeting to be held in Russian capital on October 7. He will be flying to New Delhi from Moscow for two day trip, that would be first high echelon visit by Afghan interim government to India after change of hands in Kabul in August 2021 when Taliban ran over Kabul by defeating Ashraf Ghan government.

The eradication of terrorism and drugs smuggling and regional stability would be subject of discussion in the Moscow Format. Interestingly the waiver given to Afghan Foreign Minister by the UNSC committee is headed by Pakistan, called as 1988 “Sanction Committee” at the UN headquarters.

Highly placed diplomatic sources told The News/Jang here Friday that Afghan interim Foreign Minister Aamir Muttaqi will have meeting Pakistan’s ace diplomat Muhammad Sadiq Khan in Moscow, who is special representative of Pakistan on Afghanistan, as Special Assistant to Prime Minister (SAPM), with status of Minister of State. He visited Tehran early this week to discuss Afghan affairs and terrorism. It is likely that special representatives and senior officials from Russia, Pakistan, China, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, India and Uzbekistan will attend it. The Moscow format of consultations is the most influential multilateral platform where regional countries coordinate their practical approaches to the Afghan peace settlement.

A quadrilateral meeting of Pakistan, Russia, China and Iran will take place in Moscow a day before the Moscow Format where the participants of the forum would put their heads together to resolve Afghan problem.

Muhammad Sadiq Khan will also represent Pakistan in the meeting, the sources said. The visit of Mullan Aamir Muttaqi to New Delhi is stated be significant since Pakistan has convinced the world opinion that terrorist perpetrating terrorism in different part of Pakistan are operating from Afghan soil and they are funded by the Indians.

India is providing them weapons and training as well. The cooperation between Kabul and New Delhi on various counts would figure prominently in the talks that Mullan Muttaqi will be holding in Indian capital. He had planned to visit New Delhi in August last but the permission wasn’t given to him by the sanction committee for air travelling, who is under sanctions due to his involvement in terror activities.

Indian sources are hinting that they would discuss with the visiting Aghan Foreign Minister issues related to Iranian port Chah Bahar port, which India wants to use an alternative route for trade with Afghanistan and Central Asian States. The sources don’t rule out possibility of a meeting between Mullan Muttaqi and Indian Prime Minister Modi during his stay in the Indian capital.