Pakistan skipped Moscow meeting to protest India’s participation

ATLANTA (Pajhwok): Pakistan skipped a regional security conference on Afghanistan in Russia to protest India’s participation, the country’s Foreign Office (FO) says.

The Wednesday’s meeting in Moscow was attended by national security advisors from Russia, Iran, India and central Asian countries.

At a weekly media briefing in Islamabad on Thursday, Foreign Office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said Pakistan could contribute more at forums that “contribute constructively” to peace in Afghanistan.

“We will continue to participate in all these mechanisms to their full potential and will continue to engage with our partners to contribute to peace and stability in Afghanistan,” she maintained.

Islamabad has not participated in the previous editions of this format even though it has been part of other Russia led initiatives on Afghanistan, including the Moscow Format and the Extended Troika on Afghan Issue.

Baloch said the Moscow meeting was not held within the framework of the Moscow format.

On the first day of the meeting, the participants expressed concern about security challenges in Afghanistan and the failure to form a coalition government.

Afghanistan was not invited to participate in the meeting and prior to the meeting Kabul had said the huddle would be incomplete without their participation.

Relations between Kabul and Islamabad recently strained due to increasing attacks by the Pakistani Taliban in the country.

Pakistan claims that militants of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan are hiding in Afghanistan, but Afghanistan denies this claim.

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