Taliban's acting foreign minister to meet Chinese counterpart: report
Oct 19, 2021
Kabul [Afghanistan], October 19 : Afghanistan's acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi will meet his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi, a Taliban official said.
This comes after Afghanistan's acting Foreign Minister Mawlawi Amir Khan Muttaqi met Wang Yu, Ambassador of China to Kabul on Sunday evening.
Abdul Qahar Balkhi, spokesperson for the Taliban's interim Foreign Ministry announced on Twitter that during the meeting, both sides agreed on convening a meeting between Foreign Ministers of the two countries.
"IEA Foreign Minister Mawlawi Amir Khan Muttaqi met Wang Yu, Ambassador of the People's Republic of China to Kabul, yesterday evening. During the meeting, both sides agreed on convening a meeting between IEA & Chinese Foreign Ministers, the venue and date of which will be determined later," said Balkhi.
According to The Express Tribune, if the meeting materializes, Wang Yi will be the fourth foreign minister to meet officials of the interim Taliban government, following his counterparts from Turkey, Uzbekistan, and Qatar.
Minister Muttaqi and Ambassador Wang Yu discussed the resumption of pine nuts export from Afghanistan to China, with the Chinese side giving assurance that they will make all necessary arrangements and begin exports soon.
"To end, H.E. Muttaqi expressed gratitude to the Chinese Ambassador for his efforts to resume pine nuts export to China," Balkhi said in a subsequent tweet.
Since the Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan, only a handful of countries including China and Pakistan has shown interest in engaging with the outfit. Other members of the international community are approaching the wait and watch approach.
