On Thursday, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi had a sidelined meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). The meeting took place in New York entailing the ongoing situations of the region.
In the meeting, Shah urged upon avoiding the disengagement with Taliban, the new government of Afghanistan. He also reiterated Pakistan’s role in establishing a peaceful political environment in Afghanistan. Pakistan is interested in pursuing endeavours related to energy, trade and regional connectivity with the USA, he added.
Moreover, the Minister suggested that the world community should come forward to bring Afghans out of the recent humanitarian crisis provided that the Taliban Government should stick to its commitment.
In his first meeting with the State Secretary, he highlighted the fact that the establishment of an independent and stable government is the need of the hour for Afghanistan, which should aim at preserving the gains of the nation so far and keep the diversity intact so that the soil of Afghanistan can never be used for terror purpose again.
He also raised the Kashmir issue in the very meeting. He had back to back meetings with his counterparts from all over the world where he remain focused on engaging the world community with Afghanistan.
Considering the ongoing situations of the region, Washington is not ready to engage with the Afghan Taliban. However, the Afghan Taliban’s newly established foreign ministry desires to attend the UNGA 76th session for which Ghulam Isaczai, an ambassador of Afghanistan wrote a letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to express his willingness to attend the session along with his other group members to represent Afghanistan in the international arena.