Afghan Acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi will host Pakistani Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar, along with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, in Kabul next week for the sixth China-Afghanistan-Pakistan Trilateral Foreign Ministers’ Dialogue. The high-level meeting, set for August 20, will review progress made on decisions taken during an informal trilateral in Beijing earlier this year.
The trilateral forum, launched in 2017, is seen as a crucial platform for addressing pressing regional security concerns and boosting economic cooperation. Discussions are expected to focus on countering terrorism, with a continued commitment to preventing militant groups such as the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and the Eastern Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM) from using any country’s territory as a base.
The meeting comes amid heightened militant activity in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provinces. Pakistani security forces recently reported killing around 50 militants in operations near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. Islamabad has consistently accused armed groups of operating from Afghan soil — a claim denied by the Taliban government in Kabul.
Economic cooperation will also be a key agenda point, with plans to extend the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) into Afghanistan. China has expressed interest in financing a strategic Uzbekistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan (UAP) railway link, with a feasibility study agreement already signed in Kabul last month.
This will be the first significant diplomatic engagement since Pakistan elevated its ties with Afghanistan to ambassador level — a move reportedly encouraged by Beijing during the earlier informal talks. Analysts view the meeting as a boost to the Afghan Taliban’s international engagement efforts, even as only Russia has formally recognised their government since August 2021.
