Pak orders closure of Taliban consulates

Islamabad, Nov 20: Further to its decision to de-recognise Taliban government, Pakistan on Tuesday ordered the closure of two remaining Taliban Consulates in Quetta and Peshawar but remained silent on the militia’s embassy here.

Announcing this here, Pakistan foreign office spokesman Aziz Ahmed Khan told reporters that Pakistan government has directed the Taliban ambassador in Islamabad Mullah Abdul Saleem Zaeef to close down the consulates. With this, Pakistan closed down all the three Taliban consulates in Pakistan. Two weeks ago it directed the closure of the consulate in Karachi and clamped restrictions on Mr Zaeef’s press conferences.

Today’s announcement was followed by yesterday’s clarification by Pakistan foreign minister Abdul Sattar that his government has de-recognised the Taliban government as it has collapsed but at the same time it has not recognised any new government awaiting the formation of a broad-based government under the aegis of the UN.

"We have already withdrawn our personnel from Afghanistan but not yet announced de-recognition of Taliban government. That does not mean we continue to recognise it. Quiet clearly the government has collapsed. For the time being Afghan embassy represents Afghanistan in our country," Mr Sattar said.

Clarifying the government’s decision to close down the consulates in Peshawar and Quetta, Mr Khan said the decision was prompted by Northern Alliance taking over the border posts near Quetta. In view of this, the visas issued by the consulate have no relevance. Similarly confusion prevailed in Peshawar too, he said.

In his press briefing today, Mr Khan said Pakistan was reasonably optimistic about the outcome of the meetings of various Afghan groups being convened by the UN for the formation of a broad-based government in Kabul.

Replying to a question about how optimistic Pakistan is about the outcome of the meetings, Mr Khan said, "We are fairly optimistic about this because the international community has given full support to UN special envoy to Afghanistan, Lakhdar Brahimi. The UN has given commitment and security council resolution is there to support this. So there is every reason to be reasonably optimistic that the outcome would be positive and soon."

— PTI