Maldives High Commissioner to Pakistan Mohammad Toha meets with Taliban diplomat.
The Maldives have decided to recall its High Commissioner Mohammad Toha from Pakistan. In fact, Toha had met Taliban diplomat Sardar Ahmed Shakib in Islamabad on November 1. During this meeting, Afghanistan-Maldives relations were discussed between the two leaders.
The Maldives Foreign Ministry said it had not given permission to its high commissioner for the meeting. It is for this reason that the government decided to recall him. According to news agency AFP, Toha’s name has also been removed from the website of the Maldives mission in Islamabad.
According to local Maldives media, Toha was sent to Pakistan as high commissioner in July this year. The Maldives government said it would take action against Toha.
Mohammed Toha was appointed Maldives High Commissioner to Pakistan in July.
The Taliban are trying to establish diplomatic relations with Central Asian countries. Since the return of the Taliban to Afghanistan in 2021, no country has yet recognized its government. However, the Taliban, in power in Afghanistan for three years, are trying to establish diplomatic relations with many countries.
Many Central Asian countries like Pakistan, China, Russia and Iran have established diplomatic relations with Afghanistan. Yet the embassies of all Western countries are still locked in Kabul. The Maldives, the smallest Islamic country in South Asia, has not yet recognized the power of the Taliban.
The Taliban minister had declared that he wanted to strengthen relations with India. In March, Taliban Foreign Minister Aamir Khan Muttaki met an Indian delegation. Muttaki had then said that we wanted to strengthen relations with India at the political and economic level. During this meeting, the foreign minister had called on India to facilitate the process of obtaining visas for Afghan businessmen, students and patients.
In February, Vikram Misri, deputy of India’s NSA, spoke at a meeting regarding Afghanistan in Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan. Misri had said: “India’s interests are linked to Afghanistan. Afghanistan should not be used to provide shelter and training to terrorist organizations like Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed.
Pictured is JP Singh, Joint Secretary for Afghanistan-Pakistan, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of India, with Taliban Foreign Minister.
Taliban seeking diplomatic recognition The Taliban captured all of Afghanistan as well as Kabul on August 15, 2021. Since then, it has continued to demand recognition from the world. Acting Taliban Defense Minister Mullah Mohammad Yacoub Mujahid gave an interview to the Al-Arabiya news channel. He then declared: “The government has fulfilled all the conditions to obtain recognition.
Despite this, under pressure from the United States, other countries do not recognize us. We call for recognition of countries that are not subject to American pressure. We want the powerful Islamic countries of the world to recognize us as their government.