The meeting of the foreign ministers of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), which was scheduled to be held here on the sidelines of the high-level 76th UN General Assembly session on Saturday, has been cancelled.
News agency ANI has reported that Pakistan wanted the Taliban to represent Afghanistan in the SAARC meet. 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.
Taliban has not been recognised by India to date. The new regime in Kabul is still not recognised by the world and top cabinet ministers are blacklisted by the UN.
Reports said that the majority of members in SAARC agreed that an empty chair can be kept for Afghanistan during the meet. However, Pakistan did not agree and the meeting was called off.
The SAARC Foreign Ministers meeting, traditionally held on the sidelines of the annual UNGA session, sees the ministers of India and Pakistan come face to face for the meeting.