Taliban FM's meeting with Pakistani envoy: Implications

The Afghan-Pakistani border suffers unending unrest, due to occasional armed clashes between elements of the Taliban and the movement's Afghan and Pakistani wings, and between the elements of the movement and Pakistani security forces.

The clashes usually leave dozens of casualties behind. They also cause the closure of main crossings between the two countries, especially since the Afghan Taliban came to power in August 2021.

Meanwhile, a recent meeting between the Taliban's foreign minister and the Pakistani envoy to Kabul has raised an important question about its impact on border turbulence.

Background

Amir Khan Muttaqi, acting foreign minister in the Taliban government, met Asif Durrani, special representative of Pakistan, in Afghanistan on September 22 to discuss outstanding issues between Kabul and Islamabad.

The meeting came within the framework of a complex security situation between the two sides, which increased significantly during this September, and morphed into armed clashes, in which hundreds of elements of the Afghan Taliban movement participated.

The Pakistani government announced on September 7 that its security forces responded to a large-scale attack by hundreds of members of the Pakistani Taliban on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.

Pakistani security reports confirmed that these militants carried out the attack from inside Afghan territory under the full glare of the ruling Afghan Taliban movement.

The deputy governor of Chitral, a Pakistani city near the border with Afghanistan, said the attack involved hundreds of militants who used heavy and light weapons.

The attack resulted in the death of four Pakistani soldiers, he said.

He revealed that security forces were monitoring the movements of the militants three days before the attack.

Pakistan accuses the Afghan Taliban government of supporting the militants of the Pakistani Taliban movement since it came to power in August 2021.

These accusations are backed by the actions of some leaders of the movement towards Pakistan.

In June 2022, Taliban Spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, appeared in a video circulated by Afghan activists on social networking sites to assert that the Pakistani political framework does not represent an Islamic system, claiming that religion is not important to the Pakistani government.

Details

In the light of these turbulent circumstances between the two countries, the meeting comes as an attempt to calm the atmosphere.

The two sides confirmed the formation of a joint committee to address the problems between the two neighbouring countries.

Hafiz Zia Ahmad, spokesman for the Taliban's Foreign Ministry, said the meeting tackled a number of common issues, foremost of which are border security problems, as well as the main crossings between the two countries.

The meeting, he added, also focused on some commercial matters related to import and export operations and facilitating travel procedures for citizens.

For his part, Muttaqi called for ending hostile statements between the two countries and paying attention to solving outstanding security problems through the new joint committee.

Implications

Political analyst, Mohamed Abdel Razaq, said such meetings are nothing more than temporary painkillers placed superficially on a deep wound.

"However, problems between the two sides will not end easily or soon in the light of the Taliban's adherence to its exclusionary orientations and ideology," Abdel Razaq told The Reference.