Taliban minister deliberate India go to; Pak-led UN panel rejects journey ban waiver

NEW DELHI: Taliban international minister Amir Khan Muttaqi referred to as off a deliberate go to to India this month after failing to safe a waiver to a journey ban imposed beneath UN Security Council sanctions, folks accustomed to the matter stated.

If the go to had gone forward, Muttaqi would have been the primary minister from the Taliban setup in Kabul to journey to India because the group seized energy in Afghanistan after the collapse of the Ashraf Ghani authorities in August 2021. All Taliban leaders sanctioned by the UN Security Council should safe a waiver for international journey.

Pakistan at present heads the 1988 sanctions committee of the UN Security Council that oversees the implementation of the journey ban, an belongings freeze, and an arms embargo associated to sanctioned Taliban leaders, and the folks cited above stated on situation of anonymity that Islamabad is believed to have been behind the transfer to disclaim Muttaqi a waiver.

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The 1988 sanctions committee contains all 15 members of the Security Council, and a waiver might be blocked if even one member objects to it. Muttaqi’s deliberate go to to Pakistan final month was referred to as off after the US reportedly objected to a waiver.

When exterior affairs ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal was requested at a weekly media briefing about stories of Muttaqi’s deliberate go to to India, he replied: “As you are aware, we have longstanding ties with the people of Afghanistan. India continues to support the aspirations and developmental needs of the Afghan people.

“We continue to have engagements with Afghan authorities. If there is an update on this account, we will share it with you.”

The folks stated a waiver for Muttaqi was sought from the 1988 sanctions committee but it surely wasn’t granted. The deliberate go to to India was being seen as a follow-up to a telephone name between Muttaqi and exterior affairs minister S Jaishankar in May – the primary such interplay between the 2 sides.

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The telephone dialog additionally constructed on a gathering between Muttaqi and international secretary Vikram Misri in Dubai in January and got here in opposition to the backdrop of tensions between India and Pakistan. The Taliban had additionally condemned the Pahalgam terror assault in April.

India has quietly constructed up its contacts with the Taliban management in recent times, primarily to guard regional pursuits at a time when China has sought to develop its footprint in Afghanistan, and Muttaqi and Jaishankar had spoken on the telephone once more on September 1 after New Delhi dispatched aid supplies to assist the victims of a devastating earthquake that struck the Afghan province of Kunar.

The folks stated that Muttaqi’s go to had solely been referred to as off, and it’s anticipated to go forward within the coming months as soon as the difficulty of the waiver on the journey ban is addressed.