Former Pakistan envoy calls Taliban oil and gas deal with Saudi firm a key development
Manzoor Ahmad Khan, Pakistan’s former ambassador to Kabul, has described the Taliban administration’s new deal with a Saudi Arabia-based company in the oil and gas sector as an important development.
Writing on the social media platform X, he said expanding engagement with Afghanistan, with a focus on economic cooperation and people-to-people ties, could be an appropriate approach to achieving long-term peace and stability in Afghanistan and the region.
Manzoor Ahmad Khan also stressed that, alongside economic cooperation, engagement with the ruling administration in Afghanistan is needed to establish an inclusive government and to effectively combat terrorism.
His comments came after the Taliban administration’s Ministry of Mines and Petroleum signed an oil and gas extraction contract in Herat and Badghis provinces with Saudi Arabia’s Delta International company.
Herat and Badghis in western Afghanistan are among the provinces where part of the projects related to natural resources and energy are concentrated, and contracts in this sector are usually closely watched because of their link to public revenues and the management of national resources.
