Afghanistan

Pakistan Upgrades Diplomatic Relations with Afghanistan

MAY 30 2025·Updated MAY 31 2025

Story

Above: Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi (C), Mohammad Ishaq Dar (L), and Amir Khan Muttaqi in Beijing, on May 21, 2025. Image credit: Wang Ye/Contributor/Xinhua News Agency via Getty Images

The Facts

Pakistan announced on Friday that it had upgraded its diplomatic ties with neighboring Afghanistan and appointed an ambassador to Kabul.
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Afintl
The Taliban's Foreign Minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi, is also expected to accept an invitation for a three-day visit to Islamabad for diplomatic negotiations. Pakistan is the fourth nation, after China, the United Arab Emirates, and Uzbekistan, to assign an ambassador to Afghanistan.
The Express Tribune
Amu TV
This comes after Pakistan's Foreign Minister, Ishaq Dar, met with Muttaqi in a China-organized meeting in Beijing last week. No nation has formally recognized the Taliban-run administration in Afghanistan, which took control of the country in 2021.
NDTV
Al Jazeera
Dar said relations between the two have improved since he visited Kabul in April, the first by a Pakistani minister in three years, adding that the upgraded ties will "deepen Pak-Afghan cooperation in economic, security, counterterrorism and trade areas."
Independent
The Hindu
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Both nations had maintained levels at the charge d'affaires level, which is lower than ambassador status. Neither nation has stated who will be appointed to their respective ambassador posts, nor has it been agreed upon who will participate in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor to Afghanistan.
AZ (Merge this with News.AZ)
AA
NDTV
Issues between the two nations involve accusations from Pakistan that its neighbor harbors the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), a separate Taliban group allied with their Afghan counterpart. Three million Afghan refugees in Pakistan face repatriation as part of Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's plan announced in October.
Al Jazeera
AZ (Merge this with News.AZ)

Sources Split

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The Spin

Narrative A

While the human rights situation on the ground in Afghanistan is unfortunate, realpolitik must set in in such a crucially strategic area, which means that the Taliban can't be sidelined. With the U.S. out of the picture, China has filled the void and has played the power broker with Pakistan and others. Border security, counterterrorism, and transit concerns necessitate this pragmatic thaw in relations as nations pursue their self-interests.

Eurasia Review

Narrative B

Pakistan must be careful what they wish for when dealing with the Taliban. Once a group that they helped nurture and use for strategic ends, they now have aims of installing a theocracy in Pakistan as well through the TTP and their assaults on Pakistan. Kowtowing and giving legitimacy to a group that seeks its destruction, Pakistan must choose to either reject these Islamist pressures or assent to them.