ISLAMABAD: The Afghan government has decided not to send Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi to a meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation's (OIC) Council of Foreign Ministers in Islamabad, a spokesman for the Afghan foreign ministry told Pakistani media.
Pakistan is hosting the session of the OIC Council of Foreign Ministers on March 22-23, which is themed as "Partnering for Unity, Justice and Development." The meeting will coincide with the 75th Pakistan Day on March 23.
Prime Minister Imran Khan will deliver a keynote address at the inaugural session of the conference today, while Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi will preside over it.
The Afghan government will be represented at the OIC meeting by an official of the Afghan foreign ministry, the Dawn news website reported.
"A ministry official named Muhammad Akbar Azeemi will lead the Taliban government's team at the moot in Islamabad," the report quoted Afghan Foreign Ministry deputy spokesman Hafiz Zia Takal as saying.
Muttaqi attended the last OIC meeting in Islamabad in December 2021, where he was missing in the group photo of the OIC foreign ministers and the seat for the Afghan representative remained vacant.
The Taliban government appears to now have downgraded the level of its participation in the summit by choosing to send an Afghan foreign ministry official instead of the minister.
None of the 57 OIC members has recognized the new Afghanistan government. The OIC seat still officially lies with the former government of Ashraf Ghani.