UAE Foreign Minister Meets Taliban’s FM Muttaqi
UAE Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan met with Taliban’s Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi on Wednesday without the group's official flag.
UAE Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan met with Taliban’s Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi on Wednesday without the group's official flag.
The meeting was held without official formalities. The Taliban and the UAE have not commented on the location of the meeting.
The UAE Foreign Ministry has released pictures of Al Nahyan's meeting with Amir Khan Muttaqi, in which no flag can be seen. The presence of the flag of countries in official meetings is one of the basic diplomatic protocols of countries.
After returning to power, the Taliban replaced the historic tricolor of Afghanistan with its white flag. However, countries have not yet allowed the Taliban flag to be placed in official meetings.
According to a statement from the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan stressed on support for the Afghan people, stability, development and progress of the country.
The Taliban's Foreign Ministry said in a statement that bilateral relations, expanding economic cooperation, and regional issues were discussed during the meeting. The ministry also added that the two sides exchanged views on increasing trade between Afghanistan and the UAE and marketing Afghan products in the UAE.
The UAE has close ties with the Taliban regime. However, despite handing over Afghanistan's embassy and consulates to the Taliban, it has not yet recognised the regime.
The UAE was one of the few countries that had recognised the Taliban regime in its previous rule, but this time it has refused to recognise the Taliban.
In the past three years, most Taliban officials have visited the UAE. Mullah Hassan, Mullah Yaqoob, Sirajuddin Haqqani, Amir Khan Muttaqi, and Abdul Haq Wasiq were among the senior Taliban officials who visited the UAE.
Amir Khan Muttaqi, the Taliban's foreign minister, arrived in the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday on an official visit.
