Kabul/Islamabad: The Afghan Taliban’s Acting Prime Minister Mohammad Hassan Akhund strongly condemned Pakistan’s treatment of Afghan refugees, during his meeting with Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar in Kabul today.
Dar’s visit to Kabul came amid Pakistan’s deportation of over 85,000 Afghans, including mostly children, in just over two weeks, causing significant concern and hardship to the displaced families.
Pakistan has launched a strict campaign to deport over 800,000 Afghans by the end of April. The deportations include individuals who were born in Pakistan or have lived there for decades.
Convoys of Afghan families have been heading to border towns daily, fearing raids, arrests, or being separated from family members due to the deportation order.
Hamdullah Fitrat, Deputy Spokesperson of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, said of the meeting between Dar and the Acting Prime Minister: “The prime minister of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan thanked Pakistan for hosting Afghan migrants thus far, but stressed that recent treatment of Afghan migrants is unacceptable and strongly condemned it,” Tolo News said.
Idris Zazai, a political affairs expert, noted: “Numerous meetings have been held between Afghanistan and Pakistan, and many promises exchanged, but Pakistan has repeatedly broken its commitments.”
Amir Khan Muttaqi, Acting Foreign Minister, also expressed concern about the treatment of Afghan migrants in Pakistan and urged Ishaq Dar to prevent violations of the rights of migrants and returnees.
In response, the Pakistani Foreign Minister said that customs duties on many trade items have been reduced to boost bilateral trade and that Afghan migrants will not be mistreated. He added that Islamabad would prevent any arbitrary seizure of Afghan migrants’ property.
Dar also invited Amir Khan Muttaqi to visit Pakistan to further elevate the bilateral engagement.
Zia Ahmad Takal, head of public relations at the Foreign Ministry, said: “Mr. Muttaqi also reminded the Pakistani delegation that serious steps must be taken to address the mentioned issues.”
According to a statement posted by Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry, the two sides exchanged views on key issues of mutual interest, including security, trade, transit cooperation and ways to enhance people-to-people contacts.
Both sides reaffirmed their commitment to continued engagement and agreed to maintain high-level exchanges aimed at further strengthening what the Pakistani Foreign Ministry described as “relations between the two brotherly countries.”
The visit comes at a time of heightened tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan, particularly over Pakistan’s expulsion of thousands of Afghan migrants and repeated accusations that militant groups are using Afghan soil to launch attacks. Taliban officials have denied the allegations.
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