The Taliban-controlled Bakhtar News Agency reported on Saturday that a high-level delegation from Tajikistan had arrived in Kabul. The group reportedly includes officials from Tajikistan’s Foreign Ministry and security agencies.
According to the report, Taliban and Tajik officials are expected to discuss the status of the Afghan Embassy in Dushanbe.
Taliban media outlets said the purpose of the visit is to expand political, economic and security ties between the two sides. Joint development projects have also been listed among the topics set for discussion.
The visit follows a recent trip by several Tajik officials to Kunduz Province, where they met Taliban authorities. Earlier, Yusuf Wafa, the Taliban governor of Balkh and a close associate of Taliban leader Hibatullah Akhundzada, travelled to Dushanbe at the invitation of Tajik officials. During that trip, he called for the Afghan Embassy in Tajikistan’s capital to be handed over to the Taliban.
The Afghan Embassy in Dushanbe remains under the control of a representative of Afghanistan’s former government, although the Afghan consulate in the Tajik city of Khorog operates under the direct oversight of the Taliban’s Foreign Ministry.
Tajikistan is considered one of the Central Asian states that has maintained the least diplomatic engagement with the Taliban over the past four years.
