Pakistan worried about security vacuum in Afghanistan

Although another round of intra-Afghan talks is scheduled to begin in the next couple of days, Pakistani officials don’t seem very hopeful about a breakthrough, reports Dawn News.

Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, while talking to Speaker of Afghanistan’s Wolesi Jirga Mir Rahman Rahmani on Tuesday, urged the Afghan groups to “seize this historic opportunity and work out an inclusive, broad-based and comprehensive political settlement for durable peace and stability in Afghanistan and the region,” according to a statement issued by the Foreign Office as quoted by the Pakistan newspaper.

Meanwhile,the foreign ministers of China, Afghanistan and Pakistan will discuss the peace process in Afghanistan during a meeting on Thursday, Wang Wenbin, the Chinese foreign ministry spokesman, said on Wednesday.

“The minister will discuss the reconciliation process in Afghanistan, the trilateral practical cooperation as well as fighting terrorism. The trilateral dialogue mechanism is an important platform for strengthening mutual trust between the three countries,” the spokesman said during his briefing.

According to him, the withdrawal of the US and NATO coalition troops made further development of the situation in Afghanistan uncertain.

Wang also expressed China's confidence in positive results of the upcoming meeting.

The trilateral dialogue mechanism of the foreign ministers of China, Afghanistan, Pakistan was created in 2017 at the initiative of the Chinese side. On May 18, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi offered Afghanistan to hold intra-Afghan talks in China.