A meeting of foreign ministers of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) countries, slated to be held on Saturday in New York, has been cancelled.
It is learnt from reliable sources that Pakistan wanted the Taliban to represent Afghanistan in the Saarc meet.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star’s Google News channel. India along with some other members objected to the proposal and due to lack of consensus or concurrence, the meeting was cancelled.
Nepal was the host of the meet, which is annually held on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.
An official letter sent by the Saarc secretariat to the foreign ministries of the eight countries on Tuesday said it received a note verbale or unsigned diplomatic correspondence from Nepal’s foreign ministry that stated the informal meeting of foreign ministers “will not take place” because of the “lack of concurrence from all member states”.