Baerbock, who had met his Pakistani counterpart Bilawal Bhutto Zardari this morning in Islamabad, has canceled his remaining meetings in Pakistan, German ntv television reported. Pakistan was Baerbock’s first stop on a tour that was also due to include visits to Greece and Turkey, and was scheduled to last until Wednesday.
The news was confirmed by the Foreign Ministry spokesman, Christofer Burger, on the sidelines of the trip to the Pakistani capital, Islamabad. Burger said Baerbock noticed at lunch that he had lost his sense of taste and took a rapid coronavirus antigen test, which came back positive.
On Saturday (06.05.2022) there was a positive case of COVID in the family of the German politician. However, Baerbock had had little contact with that person and had been under constant testing ever since. And today, Tuesday morning, a rapid test had returned negative.
Do not forget Afghanistan, despite Ukraine
After meeting with Bhutto Zardari, the German Foreign Minister managed to declare that we must not forget the suffering of the people of Afghanistan despite the Russian attack on Ukraine.
“We are facing a humanitarian catastrophe,” the green politician said during a visit to Pakistan. She urged not to let the population of neighboring Afghanistan, where the Taliban returned to power last year, starve. “But everything that is not humanitarian aid must be strictly conditional,” Baerbock said.
“We have to be very honest. Our influence on what happens in Afghanistan is very limited,” acknowledged the German minister, referring to the Taliban’s contempt for human and women’s rights. “It depends on the Taliban making rational decisions in their own economic interest. And at the moment they are not. The Taliban are going in the wrong direction.”
The last international combat troops withdrew from Afghanistan at the end of August 2021 after nearly 20 years. Before that, the Taliban had already captured the capital, Kabul.
Baerbock planted a tree together with his Pakistani counterpart, after their talks in Islamabad
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canceled appointments
Pakistani Foreign Minister Zardari called on the Islamic world to act together “so that it can ‘better ensure that the Afghan regime complies with its international obligations.’ This, in his words, would create an environment “which reduces, not increases, the likelihood of terrorist activity.”
According to information from the German government, two thirds of the people who received the promise of being able to move to Germany have been able to leave the country. Some 10,000 people are still waiting.
Following the meeting with Zardari, Baerbock was scheduled to visit the passport and visa office of the German embassy in Islamabad, as well as meet with Afghans who want to leave for Germany via Pakistan. But all those meetings were canceled after his positive test for coronavirus.
rml (reuters, afp, dpa)
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