Muttaqi says normalizing ties with US needs time

KABUL (Pajhwok): Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs Maulvi Amir Khan Muttaqi on Wednesday said the Islamic Emirate was ready to interact with all countries based on mutual respect and was also in contact and direct bilateral meetings with the United States of America.

He was speaking at a program to explain one year’s achievements of government agencies. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs presented its achievements for the past year.

Muttaqi said the Islamic Emirate was ready to interact with all countries on the basis of mutual respect and efforts were also in place to get the IEA recognized by other countries following Russia.

“After Russia, we are very optimistic about which countries will recognize the Islamic Emirate. We have made great progress in this area. We sent diplomats in the first step, then it came to ambassadors. Now the matter of recognition is ongoing and all this will come to light in due course.”

He added it was natural that countries had their own internal issues, regional partnerships, and international relations. These will gradually come to a noticeable position and this process will move forward in the future.

The Acting Foreign Minister said like other countries Afghanistan also needed recognition for international interaction and it was Afghanistan’s right, which should be given to it.

Regarding relations between the Islamic Emirate and the United States, Muttaqi said: “We are in contact with the United States, we have direct bilateral meetings and we also have meetings in some processes, such as the Doha process, in which all countries are involved.”

He added they had also discussed with the United States about the Afghan embassy in the country, especially consular services because tens of thousands of Afghans lived in the US and consular services were their human right.

“Naturally, countries like the United States need time to normalize their relations with Afghanistan.”

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said diplomats sent to Germany will provide consular services to Afghans there and talks will be held with Germany in the future and many developments will be made.

He added about Afghanistan’s seat in the United Nations: “Afghanistan’s seat in the United Nations is Afghanistan’s right. Because who represents the person sitting in that seat now, what system he represents, even the person who represented the previous regime led by Ashraf Ghani does not exist anymore, it is someone else who is sitting there, the rights of Afghanistan have been usurped there and these rights must be returned to Afghanistan, our efforts are ongoing in this regard and we are also asking countries to do the same.”

He said Afghanistan had more than 40 consulates and embassies in other countries and this number was increasing with each passing day.

Continuing his speech, the Acting Minister said that now all those dreams in Afghanistan that the rule of the Islamic Emirate would be “unwillingly shaken” had been proven wrong.

According to him: “Issues that are common to the whole world, such as the issue of security, which was a major concern for many countries in Afghanistan, today, thank God, there is no armed group outside the central government in Afghanistan.”

Addressing the event, Director of Consular Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Maulvi Shoaib Baralai, said that the ministry issued visas to about 250,000 foreigners from 176 countries last year, showing a 60 percent increase in visa issuance compared to previous years.

He said: “We give good news to Afghans living in European countries that in the near future, the passport printing center in Bonn, Germany, will be reactivated after a four-year pause. With the resumption of these services, the problems of Afghan citizens in European countries regarding passports will be actively addressed.”

He said that passport services have been provided to about 200,000 Afghan citizens through the diplomatic and consular missions of the Afghan government abroad.

He said that in order to address the problems of Afghan citizens abroad, the process of issuing passports was currently underway in 29 diplomatic and consular missions; while last year, these services were available in only 17 missions.

According to his information, the Consular Affairs Department currently provides certification services for 79 types of certified documents, while previously this number was only 49 types of documents.

ma