Islamabad:
Pakistan reacted on Friday with caution to the Russian decision that recognizes the Afghan Taliban government, saying that the matter was between the two sovereign states.
“We have seen the news about the Russian recognition of the government in Kabul,” said Foreign Affairs spokesman Shafqat Ali Khan, in a weekly newspaper session.
“Russia is an important country in the region. It has legitimate security interests in this part of the world and is also a friend of all the countries of the region. Pakistan enjoys very warm and cordial relations with Russia,” he added.
“Both countries maintain the positive trajectory and extend cordial relations.
Unlike Pakistan’s guarded reaction, China welcomed the Russian decision to formally recognize the Taliban government. China was the first country to send a full -time ambassador to Kabul in March last year and accepted the envoy named by the Taliban in Beijing. However, unlike Russia, China never formally announced that it had recognized the Taliban government.
Diplomatic sources said that other countries can also do the same, since regional countries previously decided to make a decision about Afghanistan with consensus.
The United Arab Emirates, Pakistan, Türkiye and Uzbekistan are in the process of naming full -time ambassadors for Kabul.
However, there was no clarity if Pakistan immediately or formally recognized the Taliban government. Pakistan has had a difficult relationship with the Taliban government for its failure to stop cross -border terrorist attacks.
Pakistan wanted to use recognition as leverage with the Taliban government. However, China recently tried to mediate between Pakistan and China. Recently, China organized a trilateral meeting in Beijing, after which Pakistan and Afghanistan agreed to improve their diplomatic ties.
The spokesman said that the ambassadors’ appointment process was underway. It is believed that in exchange for Pakistan, improving ties, the Taliban government had agreed to address Pakistan’s security concerns.
Officials familiar with development said the Taliban government in recent weeks took some measures to address Pakistan’s security concerns. However, they were of the opinion that a lot should be done in terms of terrorist sanctuaries.
Pakistan neutralized this week an important offer of infiltration of Afghanistan terrorists. Up to 30 Intruders were killed in two operations in the district of Hassen Kheil in Waziristan del Norte. Public relations between services (ISPR) in a statement urged the Government Taliban Afghan to fulfill their promise not to allow its land to be used by terrorist groups.
