Pakistan’s Special Representative for Afghanistan Mohammad Sadiq on Monday shared “concerns over the large number of terrorists in the neighbourhood, hindering regional economic integration and posing serious security challenges.”
In a post on X, Sadiq, who also holds the special assistant to the prime minister portfolio, said he had held separate meetings with his counterparts from China and Uzbekistan on the sidelines of the Afghanistan Neighbours Conference in Tehran.
“We agreed that collective efforts needed to address this threat,” he said.
Separately, senior diplomats of Afghanistan’s six neighbouring countries and Russia, who met in Tehran on Sunday, supported all efforts to reduce tension between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
They expressed their readiness to help strengthen these efforts, an Iranian government statement said on Monday.
Iran’s state news agency IRNA reported that the participants also called on Islamabad and Kabul to return to the negotiating table and resolve their problems through diplomatic channels.
In October, border clashes between Pakistan and the Afghan Taliban resulted in the martyrdom of 23 troops and left over 200 Taliban fighters dead, including a number of Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) terrorists.
Without referring to any country, the participants opposed any attempt by foreign countries to have a military presence in Afghanistan.
US President Donald Trump has repeatedly called for taking back Bagram Airbase, north of Kabul.
The Taliban rulers have rejected President Trump’s call.
Expressing security concerns, the special envoys announced and emphasised their readiness to assist Afghanistan in combating terrorism, drug trafficking and human trafficking.
They emphasised the responsibility of the international community to lift sanctions and release Afghan assets, according to the statement.
The US had frozen around $9 billion of Afghanistan’s state bank after the Taliban takeover in 2021.
The diplomats called on international organisations to support the return of Afghan citizens from neighboring countries to their country and to create conditions for their dignified return.
The call came at a time when the repatriation of Afghan refugees from Pakistan and Iran is underway.
They emphasised regional integration and the centrality of the region in resolving existing issues and challenges, including some issues related to Afghanistan. They emphasised strengthening stability in Afghanistan and expressed their readiness to help achieve it if the Afghan side declares a need.
Emphasising the importance of continuing economic and trade relations with Afghanistan with the aim of improving the livelihoods of the people of that country, they pointed out the need for the country’s integration into the political and economic processes of the region.
They also stressed the responsibility of countries that are responsible for Afghanistan’s current situation to help rebuild and improve its economic and welfare situation without turning it into a political lever.
The participants agreed to hold the fifth meeting of foreign ministers of Afghanistan’s neighboring countries in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, as soon as possible.
They welcomed Pakistan’s readiness to hold the second round of the meeting of special representatives of Afghanistan’s neighboring countries in Islamabad in March 2026.
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