Only One Mission Of The Taliban Has Remained In Pakistan

Only one mission of the Taliban, the embassy in Islamabad, has remained in Pakistan, but it actually does not work. Yesterday, ambassador Abdul Salam Zaif of the Taliban was summoned to the Pakistani Ministry of Foreign Affairs and told about the closing of two consulates general, in Peshawar and Quetta, and suggested that their staff-members should leave these cities. Earlier, the consulate in Karachi was also closed. Actually, Islamabad's diplomatic relations with the Taliban have been broken off, and the personnel of the Pakistani embassy in Kabul was recalled two months ago. On Monday, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Pakistan Abdussattar said that "if the government does not exist, there can be no diplomatic relations." Spokesman for the Pakistani Foreign Ministry Aziz Khan said on Tuesday that the embassy represents now not the Taliban but Afghanistan till the formation of a new power in the country. But the diplomat did not exclude the possibility of political contacts with representatives of the Northern Alliance. However, Islamabad does not recognise the Burhanuddin Rabbani government and does not have diplomatic relations with it.