Afghanistan: Taliban acting defense minister, UAE president hold talks to strengthen relations

Since retaking control of Afghanistan in August 2021, the Taliban has been seeking to be recognized as the country’s government. The insurgent group’s acting defense minister recently held talks with the leader of the United Arab Emirates to strengthen relations.

The Taliban-backed Afghan defense ministry and the UAE state media outlet reported Monday that the Taliban’s acting defense minister Mullah Yaqoob met with UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan in Dubai for talks on strengthening relations. The ministry said in a statement that Yaqoob and al-Nayhan discussed “strengthening relations, bilateral cooperation between the UAE and Afghanistan” along with other key issues.

The state news outlet WAM said the meeting took place on Sunday. The outlet also said that another Taliban official, Anas Haqqani, was also present during the talks.

The meeting with al-Nahyan comes after the insurgent group signed a contract back in September to run Afghanistan’s airports with the UAE firm GAAC Holding., beating out bids from Qatar and Turkey. Diplomatic sources told Reuters that the UAE is also determined to counter Qatar’s diplomatic influence in Afghanistan with the airport contract.

On the same day, the insurgent group said regarding an attack by the Islamic State militant group on the Pakistani embassy in Afghanistan’s capital Kabul was carried out by unidentified foreign groups that are trying to sow distrust in Pakistan. The militant group claimed responsibility for the attack that took place Friday last week in a post on the Telegram messaging platform on Sunday.

In the attack, a Pakistani security guard was wounded in the incident that Pakistan called an attempt to assassinate its own head of mission, who was not hurt. The insurgent group said they arrested one suspect and recovered two guns. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in a statement that the suspect was a foreign member of the Islamic State.

“Behind the attack, there is the hand of some foreign groups and their aim is to create distrust between the two brotherly countries,” said Mujahid, who did not disclose which country the suspect was from. Mujahid added that an investigation is taking place about the incident.