ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and his British counterpart Dominic Raab on Sunday exchanged views on the evolving situations in Afghanistan and "agreed it is critical that the international community is united in telling the Taliban that the violence must end and human rights must be protected."

According to a statement of the Foreign Office, Foreign Minister Qureshi received a call from Dominic Raab, Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs on Sunday.

The telephonic contact between the two foreign ministers comes following Taliban announced that it has instructed their fighters to enter Kabul and take control of the city following Afghan president Ashraf Ghani left for Dushanbe.

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In a brief statement over the Twitter, Secretary Raab stated: Shared my deep concerns about the future for Afghanistan with FM Qureshi. Agreed it is critical that the international community is united in telling the Taliban that the violence must end and human rights must be protected."

The Foreign Office statement stated that during the call, the Foreign Minister reviewed the rapidly evolving situation in Afghanistan with Secretary Raab.

Reiterating Pakistan's steadfast support for a peaceful settlement, the Foreign Minister stated that the latest situation in Afghanistan required international community's consistent engagement with the Afghan leaders to ensure a peaceful and stable Afghanistan.

The Foreign Minister expressed the hope that the Afghan leaders would take advantage of international convergence in support of peace and reconciliation process.

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The Foreign Minister also apprised Secretary Raab of Pakistan's efforts to fully facilitate the evacuation of personnel and staff of diplomatic missions, international organizations, media and others, as requested.

Drawing the attention of Secretary Raab to UK's decision to retain Pakistan on the Red List, Foreign Minister Qureshi expressed the hope that the UK would revisit its decision in the light of the data shared with the relevant UK authorities.

The Foreign minister reiterated the invitation to his counterpart for the next round of Enhanced Strategic Dialogue (ESD) in Islamabad.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021