Pak ISI Chief Meets Afghanistan's Ex-PM Hekmatyar to Discuss Formation of Coalition Govt: Report

Pakistan’s ISI Director General Lieutenant General Faiz Hameed, who arrived in Kabul on Saturday, has met former Afghanistan prime minister Gulbuddin Hekmatyar in the country’s capital city, according to TOLO News. The meeting came at a time when the Taliban are struggling to finalise and install an “inclusive” government in Afghanistan that would be acceptable to the international community.

A source close to Hekmatyar confirmed the report and informed the Afghan news portal that the meeting focused on how to form a coalition government in Afghanistan.

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Hekmatyar is the supremo of the Hezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin party and has served as the prime minister of Afghanistan twice during the 1990s. It is being said that he is an important player in country’s politics, especially with the Taliban finalising a new government.

Following the collapse of Afghanistan, on August 17, Hekmatyar met with both Hamid Karzai, former President of Afghanistan, and Abdullah Abdullah, Chairman of the High Council for National Reconciliation and former Chief Executive, in Doha.

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Hameed’s trip is the first high-level visit by a Pakistani official since the Taliban took over Kabul on August 15 in a move that surprised both their foes and friends. Since then, the insurgent group has been trying to form its government, but has been postponing the announcement. The Taliban have postponed the formation of a new government in Afghanistan for next week, their spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said on Saturday.

This is the second time that the Taliban have delayed the formation of the new government in Kabul since their toppling of the US-backed Afghanistan government. Hameed’s visit to Kabul came as Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa met with British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab earlier in the day and said that Pakistan will assist in the formation of an inclusive administration in Afghanistan.

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