New Delhi: With the Taliban all set to announce the new government in Afghanistan, Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief Lieutenant General Faiz Hameed has arrived in Kabul with a high-level delegation from Islamabad.
The delegation, according to the Pakistani media, was invited by the Taliban, reported TOLO News.
The visit assumes significance as Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence is said to have the greatest outside influence over the Taliban.
Meanwhile, the United States has, as per leaked documents, urged Pakistan to fight the terror groups as the crisis in Afghanistan spirals
As per a set of leaked documents and diplomatic cables to a prominent US media outlet, President Joe Biden’s administration is quietly pressing Islamabad to cooperate on combating dreaded terrorist groups such as the ISIS-K and Al Qaeda following the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan.
The Dawn newspaper on Saturday carried a report quoting a news report published on Friday by the Politico on a slew of diplomatic messages exchanged between Washington and Islamabad recently after the Taliban insurgents seized power in neighbouring Afghanistan, reported PTI.
Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, who is Taliban’s diplomatic face, will lead the Afghan government, as per reports.
It was earlier speculated the insurgent group’s top spiritual leader Sheikh Haibatullah Akhundzada will control the newly-formed government.
Late Taliban founder Mullah Omar’s son Mohammad Yaqoob and Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai, who served as the deputy foreign minister when the insurgents last controlled power between 1996 and 2001 in Afghanistan, will reportedly have prominent roles in the new government.
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Overthrown after the US-led coalition invaded Afghanistan in 2001, the Taliban seized control of the country in mid-August.