MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 25th August, 2021) Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi met with his Tajik counterpart, Sirojiddin Muhriddin, in Dushanbe on Wednesday to discuss the evolving situation in Afghanistan.
Qureshi is on a tour in Central Asia, and is scheduled to visit Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and Iran.
"Pleased to meet FM #SirojiddinMuhriddin in #Tajikistan today. Pakistan appreciates Tajikistan's leading role during its Presidency of SCO [Shanghai Cooperation Organisation]. Discussed developments in #Afghanistan & shared Pakistan's support for inclusive political solution & hope for Afghan leaders to achieve this," Qureshi wrote on Twitter.
SCO foreign ministers held an emergency meeting on July 14 following the United States' announcement of the start of troop withdrawal from Afghanistan. They urged the US to follow through on its promise to bring stability to Afghanistan, facilitate the intra-Afghan reconciliation process, and prevent the resurgence of terrorism in the Central Asian country.
A month after the meeting, the Taliban (designated terrorist and banned in Russia) seized power in Afghanistan, causing the US-backed civilian government to fall. Many countries have since begun evacuating their citizens and diplomatic personnel, and some have agreed to evacuate a limited number of Afghan nationals.
