Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar conveyed a clear and urgent message to the Taliban leadership: regional trade, connectivity, and economic progress cannot move forward without concrete steps to address security threats and strengthen border management mechanisms.
Dar delivered the message during a crucial meeting in Kabul with Sirajuddin Haqqani, the Taliban’s Acting Minister for Interior. According to a statement from Afghanistan’s Ministry of Interior, both sides discussed pressing regional issues including counter-narcotics, border security, and the development of cross-border infrastructure projects.
“No trade corridor can function in a vacuum of insecurity,” Dar told Haqqani, stressing that security cooperation between Pakistan and Afghanistan must be intensified if the full economic potential of regional connectivity is to be realised.
The meeting coincided with the signing of a feasibility study agreement for the Trans-Afghan Railway Project a trilateral initiative involving Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Uzbekistan aimed at connecting South Asia with Central Asia through a new economic corridor. However, officials from all three countries have warned that the project’s viability hinges on long-term stability and uninterrupted security along the proposed route.
Dar reiterated that Pakistan supports regional development, but said sustainable economic integration demands urgent and verifiable steps to neutralise cross-border threats, curb illicit trafficking, and enhance real-time coordination between border agencies.
In a separate engagement, Acting Minister Haqqani held talks with Uzbek Foreign Minister Bakhtiyor Saidov and Transport Minister Ilhom Makhkamov. According to the Taliban’s Interior Ministry, discussions focused on accelerating railway cooperation and strengthening diplomatic, economic, and cultural ties between Kabul and Tashkent.
Minister Saidov revealed that trade between Afghanistan and Uzbekistan has nearly tripled over the past year. He reaffirmed Tashkent’s support for Kabul’s participation in international forums, assistance in resolving the Afghan migrant crisis, and efforts to unfreeze Afghanistan’s central bank assets.
