Afghanistan welcomes restored Qatar-Saudi ties

KABUL (Pajhwok): Afghanistan on Wednesday welcomed restoration of ties between Qatar and a number of Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia.

A statement from the Afghan Foreign Ministry said leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) at a landmark summit in Saudi Arabia announced that they would resolve their problems with Qatar.

“We consider the governments and people of the GCC member states religious brothers of the Afghan government and people. We consider the signing of this declaration as important and a positive step towards peace and stability in the region”, the ministry said in a statement.

The statement said the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan valued unity of Islamic countries in the current situation to fight terrorism and to resolve differences between Islamic countries through dialogue and peaceful means.

Relations between Saudi Arabia and Qatar normalized after three years, mediated by Kuwait.

The summit comes a day after Saudi Arabia and Qatar decided to reopen air, land and sea routes between the two countries.

Three years ago, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt accused Qatar of aiding terrorists and cut ties with the nation.

Iran and Turkey have strongly backed Qatar, not allowing it to run into economic problems.

A number of countries, including the United States, have welcomed the improvement in relations between Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

Bk/ma

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