On May 26, 1997, “Pakistan announced full diplomatic recognition of the Taliban regime and abandoned its long-standing, if fitful, drive for a broad-based government. ‘The new government fulfills all criteria for de jure recognition,’ Foreign Minister Gohar Ayub Khan informed reporters. ‘It is now in effective control of most of the territory of Afghanistan and is representative of all ethnic groups in that country.’ “
– Roy Gutman, How We Missed the Story, Page 105