Taliban, Pakistan, China Agree To Limit India’s Role In Afghanistan To Diplomatic Presence

The Express Tribune, a Pakistani media outlet with close ties to the country’s military establishment, has reported that during a recent trilateral meeting, the Taliban, China, and Pakistan agreed to restrict India’s role in Afghanistan to that of a diplomatic mission.

Citing informed diplomatic sources, the outlet stated that the Taliban supported Islamabad’s position on conducting an impartial investigation into the recent Pahalgam attack and chose to maintain its distance from the Indian bloc.

The report, published on Sunday, 11 May, indicated that the meeting focused on a regional reassessment and the potential expansion of the China–Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) into Afghanistan. The Taliban were said to have quietly backed Pakistan’s stance amid ongoing tensions between Islamabad and New Delhi.

The closed-door trilateral meeting took place on Saturday at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Kabul and was hosted by the Taliban’s Foreign Minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi. According to Taliban sources, discussions centred on economic and security cooperation, as well as broader regional stability.

It was also reportedly agreed that the Taliban would host the sixth round of the trilateral dialogue between China, Pakistan, and the Taliban in Kabul. This would mark the first time such a meeting is held at the foreign ministerial level under the Taliban’s administration.