Pakistan Envoy Meets Tajik Official Before Moscow Talks

Pakistan’s Special Representative for Afghanistan, Mohammad Sadiq, met a Tajik Foreign Ministry official in Moscow on October 5, ahead of regional consultations on Afghanistan, as Pakistan-Taliban tensions were expected to be discussed at the talks. Sadiq said he and Sarwar Bakhti, head of the Tajik Foreign Ministry’s Middle East and Africa Department, discussed the situation in Afghanistan and wider regional developments. Pakistan’s ambassadors to Afghanistan and Russia also attended, according to Sadiq’s statement. The eighth round of the Moscow Format consultations was scheduled for October 5. Pakistan’s delegation was led by Sadiq, while the Taliban delegation was led by Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi. The forum includes Afghanistan and regional countries such as Russia, China, Iran, India, Pakistan and Central Asian states, and addresses Afghanistan’s political and economic situation and regional security issues. Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry said the consultations would provide an opportunity for regional dialogue amid deteriorating relations with the Taliban authorities. A Taliban official said no bilateral meeting with Sadiq had been requested.