KABUL (SW) – Amir Khan Muttaqi, Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Emirate, has invited Pakistan’s newly elected foreign minister, Mohammad Ishaq Dar to visit Kabul in a bid to improve bilateral relations.
In the past two years, Pakistan has raised differences with the Islamic Emirate on various issues, including security and economic issues, and now, after a transformation, it has witnessed a new government. With this political change in Pakistan, the Islamic Emirate expects it will try to solve the existing problems between Kabul and Islamabad.
In a press release of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, it is stated: “Mr. Muttaqi said that the countries of the region are increasing their interactions with the Islamic Emirate day by day, and at the regional level, the works of major infrastructure projects are starting, and we want Pakistan to have its constructive contribution.”
However, some experts also expect that the new government of Pakistan will try to solve the challenges in bilateral relations between Kabul and Islamabad through dialogue, contrary to the country’s approach two years ago. Experts still emphasize on the Islamic Emirate’s cautious foreign policy towards Pakistan.
International relations expert Mahmood Izterabi told Salaam Watandar that the government of Pakistan has tried to make accusations against Afghanistan in order to satisfy its public opinion, and has made this crisis more complicated and intense. “I think that Pakistan can solve the problems with Afghanistan if it tries in a humanitarian and neighborly way.”
On the other hand, experts do not hope that the new government of Pakistan will be able to undertake a positive change in relations with Afghanistan, considering Pakistan’s security view towards Afghanistan and the role of the country’s military sector as the main determinant of Pakistan’s policy towards Afghanistan.
Ajmal Zurmati, another expert on international relations, said until there are fundamental changes in Pakistan’s foreign policy, no major shift is possible. “Because the architect of Pakistan’s foreign policy towards Afghanistan is the military of this country.”
At Kabul’s request to resolve the problems in relations with Pakistan, Asif Ali Khan Durrani, Pakistan’s special representative for Afghanistan, has claimed that Afghanistan has sheltered 5,000 to 6,000 Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) fighters; a claim that the Islamic Emirate has rejected many times before.
