Pakistan, which declined to attend the Delhi Dialogue on the pretext that India had not invited the Taliban for the event, will host a meeting on the Afghanistan situation on Thursday in Islamabad as part of the “Extended Troika.” It includes Pakistan, Russia, China and the US.
Refusing India’s invitation for the NSA-level meeting, Pakistan’s NSA Moeed Yusuf last week said a “spoiler cannot play peacemaker.” He also reiterated his country’s position that the Taliban should be part of the dialogue. Pakistan had not attended the earlier Dialogues hosted Iran in 2018 and 2019 on the same grounds.
Incidentally, China also did not attend the Delhi conclave due to “scheduling difficulties”. However, Beijing said it was open to continuing discussion with India through bilateral channels. Significantly, China said on Wednesday that it will attend the meeting on Afghanistan convened by its all-weather ally Pakistan. Asked whether China would attend the meeting in Islamabad, Chinese
Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told a media briefing in Beijing on Wednesday that “China supports Pakistan in hosting this extended meeting of the China-US-Russia consultation mechanism and supports all international efforts conducive to promoting peace and stability in Afghanistan and building consensus among all parties.”
As regards the meeting in Pakistan, its special envoy on Afghanistan Mohammad Sadiq Khan will host the event. It will be the first time that the “Troika Plus” will also meet Taliban’s Acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi.
“I will be travelling to Europe and Asia starting today to discuss the way forward on Afghanistan with allies and partners. The international community must act together to be effective,” tweeted US Special Envoy Thomas West.
Besides Islamabad, he will also visit Delhi and Moscow. Russia’s Special envoy Zamir Kabulov is likely to attend the meeting in Islamabad.