Pakistan, Afghanistan officials meet in China’s Urumqi under trilateral mechanism

Senior officials from Pakistan, Afghanistan and China are meeting on Wednesday in the Chinese city of Urumqi under the trilateral mechanism, said a senior official from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The meeting is the first high-level diplomatic contact between Islamabad and Kabul after Pakistan launched Operation Ghazab lil-Haq on the night of Feb 26, following cross-border firing by the Afghan Taliban.

The MoFA official, who asked not to be named due to the sensitive nature of negotiations, said the meeting is not a “mediation effort per se”.

Another Pakistani official, familiar with the development, said Beijing requested Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, who was in Beijing on Tuesday, for Islamabad’s participation as Kabul had asked for assistance from the Chinese in bringing Islamabad to the table.

He added that China also has concerns about the East Turkestan Islamic Movement — a transnational terrorist outfit known to operate in Afghanistan.

“The Afghan side is showing willingness to walk the talk this time and has agreed to discuss a verifiable mechanism on some of the key demands by Pakistan and China on TTP and ETIM.”

He elaborated that these are “exploratory discussions” at the junior level to gauge the seriousness of the Afghan side, adding that the DG-level talks are being led by the additional secretary of the Afghan desk at the Foreign Office (FO) from the Pakistan side.

The official further said that the diplomat was already present in China as he was accompanying the foreign minister. “The Pakistan delegation also includes military and intelligence officials.”

The Afghan delegation includes members of the interior and foreign ministries as well as officials from Afghanistan’s General Directorate of Intelligence.

More to follow