National Security Adviser (NSA) Moeed Yusuf has landed in Kabul accompanied by a high-level inter-ministerial delegation to discuss economic and humanitarian matters with their counterparts in Kabul on Saturday.
Meeting the delegation at Hamid Karzai International Airport was Nooruddin Azizi, the acting minister for commerce and industry for the Afghanistan Taliban government. The NSA later met with Afghanistan’s Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi to discuss strengthening humanitarian and economic engagement between the two countries, as reported by Dawn.
The delegation is part of Pakistan’s Afghanistan Inter-Ministerial Coordination Cell (AICC), which aims to coordinate economic and humanitarian assistance into Afghanistan and support the Afghan Taliban government as they tackle the country’s worsening conditions, while also adhering to UN requirements and abiding international sanctions.
The AICC is reportedly conducting a sectoral review of Afghanistan’s economy to help formulate an assistance plan. The major areas of interest would include health, trade and business contacts, and humanitarian assistance. The plan will likely be finalized following the NSA’s visit to Kabul.
According to Afghanistan’s state news agency Bakhtar, “Pakistan’s national security adviser is to discuss border issues, trade and economic ties with Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) officials during his visit to Kabul.”
Earlier this month, tensions simmered between Islamabad and Kabul, after video emerged purportedly showing Taliban fighters removing border fencing along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. Despite statements from Afghan Defense Ministry spokesman Enayatullah Khwarzmi, who was interviewed saying that Pakistan had ‘no right’ to erect a fence along the Durand Line, the foreign ministers of both countries later said that they would vow to remain ‘good neighbors.’
