Acting Defense Minister Mawlawi Mohammad Yaqoob, leading a delegation of the Islamic Emirate to the UAE, met with the President of the UAE, Sheikh Mohammad bin Zayed Al Nahyan, local news agencies reported.

The Afghan Defense Ministry said on Twitter that both sides discussed strengthening relations, bilateral cooperation between the UAE and Afghanistan, and other topics of importance.

Al Nahyan received the acting Afghan Minister of Defense at Qasr Al Shati Palace, according to the Defense Ministry.

Mawlawi Mohammad Yaqoob and his accompanying delegation, which included a senior member of the Islamic Emirate, Anas Haqqani, left Kabul for the UAE on Saturday.

Prior to the meeting with the UAE president, the delegation held talks with the UAE-based Afghans.

“The borders are so (secure) no one can even enter a meter onto the soil of Afghanistan. No one can look with bad eyes toward Afghanistan,” Yaqoob told the gathering of Afghans living in the UAE.

He suggested that all Afghans now have the right to take part in the “economy, politics and military” of Afghanistan.

This comes as the US special envoy for Afghanistan, Thomas West, is also on a visit to Japan, India and the UAE.