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Pakistan’s Special Representative for Afghanistan Mohammad Sadiq. PHOTO: FILE
ISLAMABAD:
Iran will host a two-day conference in its capital on the 15th-16th. December on Afghanistan. The meeting is expected to be attended by special representatives from Pakistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, China and Russia.
Pakistan’s Special Representative for Afghanistan Mohammad Sadiq, Pakistan’s Ambassador to Kabul Ubaid Ur Rehman Nizamani and Pakistan’s Ambassador to Tehran Mudassir Tipu will attend.
Special Representative of the President of the Russian Federation in Afghanistan Zamir Kabulov, China’s Special Envoy for Afghanistan Affairs Yu Xiaoyong and representatives of the Presidents of Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan will also attend.
Sources said Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi will address the meeting. A joint communique will be issued at the end of the conference.
The Taliban’s foreign ministry said on Saturday that it will not attend a regional meeting on Afghanistan, a report published by an Afghan news outlet said. Zia Ahmad Takal, deputy spokesman for the ministry, said the Taliban had received an invitation but decided not to attend.
According to Takal, the decision was based on the Taliban’s perception that Afghanistan already maintains active relations with regional countries through existing regional organizations and cooperation frameworks, and has made what he described as significant progress in this regard.
On Thursday, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei told reporters that the Islamic Republic of Iran attached fundamental importance to security and stability in its neighborhood.
