Qatari deputy prime minister in Pakistan today for talks on Afghanistan

Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi shakes hand with his Qatari counterpart Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani in Islamabad on October 19, 2018. (Photo courtesy: APP)

• Will hold talks with Pakistani foreign minister on developments in Afghanistan and Pakistan-Qatar relations
• Qatar has cultivated role in Afghanistan since it let Taliban open its main international office in 2013 

ISLAMABAD: The deputy prime minister and minister of foreign affairs of Qatar, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani, is visiting Pakistan, today, Thursday for talks on Afghanistan.
Qatar has cultivated a deep role in Afghanistan since it let the Taliban open the group’s main international office in 2013 and provided the venue for peace talks that led to last year’s US agreement to withdraw.
In the weeks since the militants swept into power in Kabul, more than 58,000 of the 124,000 Western citizens and at-risk Afghans who were airlifted out of Afghanistan flew through Qatar. It is also providing a temporary home to the evacuated Afghanistan embassies of the United States and several European allies.
“Foreign Minister Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi will hold talks with Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani focusing on developments in Afghanistan and Pakistan-Qatar relations,” the foreign office said in a statement. “During the visit, the Qatari Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs will call on other dignitaries as well.”
“The two countries closely collaborate on regional and global issues of common interest,” the statement added. “Qatar is home to more than 200,000 hard working Pakistani expatriates contributing to national development and economic progress of both countries.”