Meeting with Afghan envoy not sanctioned by government: Ministry

Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today that the recent meeting between the High Commissioner of Maldives in Pakistan Mohamad Thoha and a representative of Afghanistan in Islamabad, was not sanctioned by the Government of Maldives.

High Commissioner Thoha met Afghanistan's Ambassador to Pakistan Sardar Ahmad Shakeeb in the Pakistani capital Islamabad on Friday.

Consequently, appropriate action has been taken by the Government of Maldives, the Ministry said in its statement. However, it did not specify what measures had been taken.

The Ministry stated that the Maldives follows the United Nations General Assembly’s approach when determining the representative status of a government. In line with this, the Maldives recognizes the government representing Afghanistan at the UN as the legitimate authority of Afghanistan.

Following the meeting, the Afghan Embassy in Islamabad in a post on X, said that discussions on bilateral relations between the two Muslim countries, trade relations between the Maldives and Central Asian countries via Afghanistan, and related issues were discussed during the meeting. The embassy also said that Afghanistan seeks constructive relations with all countries and is striving, through its economy-focused policies, to transform Afghanistan into a regional connectivity hub.

Since the withdrawal of US and British troops in August 2021, which ended 20 years of war in Afghanistan, Taliban forces took control of Afghanistan. Three years on, the Taliban government remains unrecognized by numerous countries and international organizations.

Before his appointment as High Commissioner of the Maldives to Pakistan, Thoha had initially been approved as the Maldives Ambassador to Saudi Arabia. However, the parliament later decided to transfer him to Pakistan.

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