Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi concluded his three-day visit to four countries neighboring Afghanistan in Iran, yesterday, after having visited Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, meeting separately in each with both the Presidents and Foreign Ministers. The Pakistani Foreign Ministry read-outs on his meetings do not enter into much detail, but it is clear that more was discussed than is being reported on Afghanistan, and that the countries he visited agree that regional coordination is key. Qureshi was also preparing meetings for the upcoming Sept. 16-17 Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Tajikistan.
In each meeting, Qureshi informed his interlocutors on Pakistan’s perspective on Afghanistan, and underlined the importance of “a coordinated approach … [and] continued consultations on the way forward, as peace in Afghanistan would lead to economic and political benefits for the region,” he told Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi. Through “close coordination … the region will witness transformation in terms of enhanced stability, trade and improved connectivity from a peaceful and stable Afghanistan,” he told Turkmenistan President Gurbanguly Berdimukhammedov, and similarly to the others. President Berdimukhammedov is reported to have conveyed his appreciation of “the Foreign Minister’s visit to the region to forge a common regional approach on the situation in Afghanistan.”
