Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi’s planned visit to Pakistan has been blocked by the US, likely due to a UN Security Council travel ban, Pakistan’s Dawn reported.
Islamabad,Aug 10: A UN Security Council travel ban is widely thought to be behind the cancellation of a planned visit by Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi to Pakistan, according to a media report.
Muttaqi was expected in Islamabad on August 4, continuing the recent high-level contacts initiated by Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar’s visit to Kabul in April, a move that led to a thaw in bilateral ties, Dawn reported.
However, diplomatic sources said that the United States had blocked a UN Security Council exemption that would have allowed Muttaqi to travel to Pakistan, the paper said on Friday.
As the Afghan Foreign Minister is under international sanctions, he requires special approval from the UN sanctions committee for any foreign travel.
Citing sources, the paper said that Washington delayed its decision until the last moment and ultimately refused to grant the waiver, scuttling the trip.
As a key player in the UN Security Council, the US holds significant sway in the 1988 Sanctions Committee, which manages sanctions like travel bans, asset freezes, and arms embargoes targeting Taliban-linked individuals and groups under UNSC Resolution 1988 (2011).
It is believed the US blocked the waiver for Taliban’s Foreign Minister to visit Pakistan, driven by worries about their growing ties with China, the paper said.
The US has often clashed with China and Russia at the committee, who advocate for more lenient exemptions, creating tensions within the committee’s efforts to promote stability in Afghanistan.
When asked whether Washington had blocked Muttaqi’s visit to Pakistan at a recent briefing, a State Department spokesperson simply responded with, “We do not comment on rumours.”
The Foreign Office on Friday hinted that “procedural issues” had hindered the trip.
“There are certain procedural issues we are working through,” Foreign Office spokesperson Shafqat Ali Khan said when asked by journalists about media reports on Muttaqi’s aborted trip.
The spokesperson also clarified that no official dates had been confirmed for the Afghan Foreign Minister’s visit, so there was “no question of cancellation or postponement”.
Khan said that both Kabul and Islamabad are working to address the matter and added, “Once these procedural matters are resolved, we look forward to welcoming the Afghan foreign minister to Pakistan.”(IT)
