The Taliban's diplomats have commenced operations in Afghanistan’s embassies in Pakistan, news outlet Voice of America (VoA) reported. This comes in the middle of a heated discussion globally as to the next course of action vis-à-vis Afghanistan. After the forced Taliban takeover earlier this year, countries are still deciding whether or not to recognise the fundamentalist regime, and even Pakistan has not officially recognised the Taliban administration. VoA reported that Taliban diplomats have started working in the Afghan embassy in Pakistan's capital, Islamabad, and at Afghan consulates in other Pakistani cities.
At the same time, India and the United States have called on the Taliban to ensure that Afghanistan is not used as a terrorist safe haven, as officials of the two countries concluded their joint dialogue on counterterrorism.
During the two-day meeting on October 26 and 27, the US had reiterated its commitment to stand together with the people and the government of India in the fight against terrorism. Both sides strongly condemned any use of terrorist proxies and cross-border terrorism in all its forms, and called for the perpetrators of the 26/11 Mumbai attack to be brought to justice. They also called for concerted action against all terror groups, including those proscribed by the United Nations Security Council such as al-Qaida, ISIS/Daesh, Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), and Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), the joint statement said.
"In line with UNSC Resolution 2593 (2021), both sides called on the Taliban to ensure Afghan territory is never again used to threaten or attack any country, shelter or train terrorists, or plan or finance terrorist attacks," it said.
Both sides committed to continuing close consultations on developments in Afghanistan and potential terrorist threats emanating from there. They also exchanged views on countering narco-terror networks and trans-national illegal weapons smuggling networks.
Consistent with UNSC Resolution 2396 (2017), officials from the two countries discussed ways to prevent the ability of international terrorists to travel. They also jointly decided to further expand terrorist threat information sharing, and exchanged information about priorities and procedures for designating terrorist groups and individuals.
