Tag: Troika meeting

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-Top News PAKISTAN

TROIKA PLUS: Qureshi Defends Stance on Taliban

Pic credits Twitter @SMQureshiPTI

Qureshi also claimed that Troika Plus has a critical role in consolidating peace in Afghanistan amid economic challenges…reports Asian Lite News

Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has said that the engagement with the Taliban’s Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) government must continue in order to help consolidate peace and stability, Ariana News reported.

Addressing a Troika Plus meeting in Islamabad on Thursday on the crisis in Afghanistan, Qureshi said currently the group of four nations, US, China, Russia, and Pakistan, has assumed greater significance and has a critical role to play.

Pic credits Twitter @SMQureshiPTI

According to him, the Troika Plus is confident that their engagement with the IEA government will “help consolidate peace and stability, promote sustainable economic development, and help constrict space for terrorist groups” operating in Afghanistan, the report said.

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“No one wishes to see a relapse into civil war; no one wants an economic collapse that will spur instability; everyone wants terrorist elements that are operating inside Afghanistan to be tackled effectively. And we all want to prevent a new refugee crisis,” he said, adding that all regional countries have concerns and a shared interest in the country’s peace and stability.

He noted that the country’s economic situation was on the verge of collapse and that it is imperative that the international community provide urgent humanitarian assistance to Afghans.

He also said, “health, education and municipal services require urgent attention”.

Enabling Afghanistan to access its frozen funds will link in with the Troika Plus’ ‘efforts to regenerate economic activities and move the economy towards stability and sustainability’.

The group previously met in Qatar in August to discuss political solutions to the conflict during the IEA’s takeover of Afghanistan, the report added.

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-Top News Afghanistan PAKISTAN

Taliban FM due in Pakistan for Troika+

The visit will be Muttaqi’s maiden visit to Islamabad after assuming charge as the acting Foreign Minister following the collapse of Afghanistan to the Taliban in August…reports Hamza Ameer

Amir Khan Muttaqi, the acting Foreign Minister of the Taliban government in Afghanistan, will arrive in Islamabad on Wednesday at the invitation from Pakistan to be a part of the Troika Plus meeting.

The visit will be Muttaqi’s maiden visit to Islamabad after assuming charge as the acting Foreign Minister following the collapse of Afghanistan to the Taliban in August.

As per details shared by the Pakistan Foreign Office, the visit will be focused on pivotal issues related to economic crisis in Afghanistan, coupled with easing of visa provision and processing.

Muttaqi will also be taking part in the all important Troika Plus meeting on Thursday in Islamabad where “special representatives for Afghanistan from US, Russia, China and Pakistan will be meeting”, to discuss the way forward towards a stable country.

The Foreign Office further said that Ambasador Mohammad Sadiq, Pakistan’s Special Representative for Afghanistan, Thomas West, the State Department’s Special Representative and Deputy Assistant Secretary for Afghanistan, Russia’s special envoy for Afghanistan Zamir Kabulov and Chinese special envoy for Afghanistan Yue Xiaoyong will be in attendance.

The meeting is expected to not only see through means of provision of continued humanitarian aid to Afghanistan, but will also be focused on handling the crippling economic crisis of the country.

The Taliban interim government is yet to receive recognition from the international community and has been engaging with global powers before the economic crisis of the country turns from bad to worse.

The Troika Plus holds great importance as China, Pakistan, Russia and the US share major stakes in Afghanistan and have been relevant active participants of the Afghan peace talks.

Although Pakistan is yet to recognised the Taliban government, it has allowed the new Taliban officials to take control of the Afghan embassy in Islamabad along with consulates in Peshawar, Karachi and Quetta.

Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, during his last visit to Kabul on October 21, had discussed with senior Afghan Taliban government officials, confirming that both sides had agreed to enhance and revive the existing bilateral mechanisms and institutional frameworks such as the Afghanistan-Pakistan Action Plan for Peace and Solidarity (APAPPS), which would be used as a platform to resolve differences and hurdles in implementation of decision on both sides.

Major decisions have already been taken by the Pakistan government since Qureshi’s visit which include removal of procedural restrictions on the movement of people between two countries, earlier imposed in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic; issuance of five-year multiple-entry visas to Afghan businessmen; permission to Afghan trucks to travel up to Karachi; and waiving off duties on exports of Afghan fruits and vegetables in Pakistan.

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-Top News Afghanistan India News

Russia wants India in expanded Troika

India's External Affairs Minister Dr S. Jaishankar and his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov.

“We are interested in Iranians also getting involved, and then other countries as well, in particular, India,” Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said, reports Asian Lite News

Russia is interested in involving India within the framework of the expanded Troika talks on Afghanistan.

“We are interested in Iranians also getting involved, and then other countries as well, in particular, India,” Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told journalists on Friday in the Rostov region, Tass reported.

“Of course, international mediators can play a more significant role here than in other conflict situations. Our efforts of the so-called Troika – Russia, the US, China – and within the framework of the expanded Troika engaging Pakistan are directed precisely at this”, Lavrov said.

India
Afghan security force members take part in a military operation in Imam Sahib district of Kunduz province, northern Afghanistan. (Photo by Ajmal Kakar/Xinhua/IANS)

According to Lavrov, Russia maintains contact with all political forces in Afghanistan. “We are talking with all the more or less significant political forces in Afghanistan: both with the government and with the Taliban and with the representatives of Uzbeks, Tajiks, with everyone. We see how difficult it is for the Afghan society to develop consensus,” he noted.

The Russian Foreign Minister emphasized that an emergency session of the UN Security Council that Afghanistan’s representatives are requesting would be useful only if it helps launching the negotiations on the situation in that country.

“This will be useful only in case it convenes not just to talk about [the situation] and, so to say, take it out on each other but if it convenes with a prepared result which will help launching the negotiations and not trying to maneuvre,” he pointed out.

(Source twitter@DrabdullahCE)

Russia supports the political settlement in Afghanistan based on the decisions of the UN Security Council and regrets that the Taliban movement (outlawed in Russia) is attempting to resolve the situation in the country by using force, Lavrov said.

“We support the Afghan settlement happening with the participation of all political, ethnic, confessional forces of the country. We support the processes approved at the UN Security Council which have now unfortunately slowed down. The state delegation has not been particularly interested in resuming talks for about year and a half – two years already. Against this background, again, regretfully, the Taliban decided to attempt to settle the situation through military force. They are taking over more and more cities and provinces. All of this is not good, it’s wrong,” he said.

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