Islamabad (TDI): Pakistan and Afghanistan agreed to elevate their diplomatic relations and exchange full-time ambassadors, China announced on Wednesday, in a major development in the bilateral ties that remained strained since the Taliban took over Kabul nearly a four-year ago.
The significant breakthrough was announced by the Chinese foreign ministry following a trilateral meeting in Beijing, where Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi histed his Pakistani and Afghan counterparts.
In a statement after the informal talks with Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar and Afghan interim Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi, Wang Yi said, “Afghanistan and Pakistan expressed willingness to enhance diplomatic ties and agreed in principle to exchange ambassadors at the earliest opportunity.
He added that Beijing welcomed this development and will continue to provide assistance for the improvement of relations between Islamabad and Kabul.
Pakistan and Afghanistan have maintained diplomatic presence in each other’s capitals but the missions were headed by charge’d affairs and not the full-time ambassadors.
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Exchanging envoys means that Islamabad would move a step closer to recognizing the Taliban government. China became the first country to send a full time envoy to Afghanistan and formally accepted the Taliban’s ambassador in March this year.
In contrast to its earlier approach, Islamabad this time aligned itself with the boarder international community regarding recognition of the Taliban government.
Initially, when the Taliban took over, Pakistan was advocating engagement with the new administration and persuaded nations to recognize the government at the earliest.
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However, Pakistan’s own relations the Taliban government began to deteriorate just months after their takeover, prompting Islamabad to shift its position.
Pakistan subsequently made the recognition of the Taliban regime conditional on condition of decisive action against terrorist organizations, including the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
