In a tweet, Foreign Minister Jalil Abbas Jilani confirmed his dedication to maintaining strong ties with Afghanistan during a meeting with senior Afghan Taliban official Mullah Shirin Akhund. As governor of Kandahar and the strategic intelligence deputy of the Afghan defence ministry, Akhund’s presence was noted by the Afghan embassy ahead of the sixth Afghanistan-Pakistan Joint Coordination Committee meeting in Islamabad.
Mullah Shirin Akhund, a prominent member of the Afghan Taliban, has previously engaged with Pakistan and the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan. Pakistan has recently cited a sharp increase in terrorist attacks, which has put a strain on relations between the two countries as the government demands action from the Afghan Taliban to prevent these attacks from being planned within Afghanistan. Meanwhile, a report by Pakistan Institute for Peace Studies highlighted the TTP and its affiliated groups as the main perpetrators of terrorist attacks in the country.