Pakistan is sending a high-ranking delegation led by State Minister for Foreign Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar to Afghanistan in a bid to promote ties with Kabul and to reiterate its support of the people, Pakistani media reported.
Reports indicated the delegation would visit Kabul on Tuesday and that the Pakistani foreign minister is likely to meet the Taliban’s chief minister and the group’s foreign minister.
The development of relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan will be on the agenda of a meeting between Rabbani Khar and the Taliban’s foreign minister.
Earlier, Pakistan called for steps to end the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, saying that the country’s economy should be revived as a priority, Pakistani media reports say.
“Our priority, first and foremost, is an end to the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan,” Ambassador Munir Akram told the United Nations Security Council “Arria-Formula” meeting.
Rabbani Khar had held a meeting with Pakistan Finance Minister Ishaq Dar last week about a visit to Afghanistan, media reports say. Ishaq had briefed her on bilateral trade and comprehensive and effective methods to foster ties with the country.
In 2021, she visited Afghanistan as Pakistan’s foreign minister, marking the first-ever visit by any woman political leader from Pakistan. At that time, she met former President Hamid Karzai.
A decade later in 2022, she visits Afghanistan as Pakistan’s state minister for foreign affairs, marking the first woman leader to visit the country after the Taliban takeover.
