An informal side meeting of SAARC foreign ministers scheduled for the 76th General Assembly of the United Nations (UN) in New York has been canceled. The meeting was canceled, citing an Afghan delegation as the cause of the "gate crash".
The secretariat of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) said the meeting was canceled due to disagreement among member countries. However, the secretariat did not mention the reasons for the failure to reach an agreement among the member countries.
SAARC Chairperson Nepal had invited non-Afghan members for a ministerial meeting on September 30. Afghanistan is the youngest member of SAARC.
Afghanistan, which sent Suhail Shahin as new ambassador to the United Nations on Wednesday, has written a letter saying it should be allowed to address the General Assembly.
Member states, including India, demanded an answer from Nepal on what to do if the Taliban-led Afghan diplomatic delegation in New York crashed. A source in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that Nepal could hold a meeting but could not stop it if a Taliban representative came.
READ ALSO: