Taliban’s Muttaki Meets UAE Ambassador to Discuss Expansion of bilateral Cooperation

The Taliban’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has announced that Amir Khan Muttaki, acting head of the ministry, met with Saif Alketbi, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) ambassador to Kabul, to discuss bilateral relations and ways to expand cooperation. According to a statement from the ministry, during the meeting, both sides exchanged views on the state of Afghanistan-UAE relations, the development of cooperation across various sectors, and certain regional issues. The statement cited Muttaki describing the relations between Kabul and Abu Dhabi as expanding and emphasized the necessity of strengthening joint efforts to increase cooperation in different areas. The Taliban administration spoke of expanding ties despite not being recognized by much of the international community. Meanwhile, the UAE ambassador assessed the current level of relations as positive and stressed his country’s commitment to continuing and developing close and lasting cooperation with Afghanistan. In recent years, the UAE has been one of the regional countries maintaining diplomatic contacts with the Taliban administration.