RUSSIA INVITES TALIBAN TO AFGHANISTAN CONFERENCE IN MOSCOW

Fri 08 October 2021:

The Taliban will be invited to international talks on Afghanistan that Russia hopes to convene in Moscow on October 20, according to President Vladimir Putin’s special representative on Afghanistan.

In comments broadcast by Russian news outlets on Thursday, Zamir Kabulov, the representative, did not disclose any other specifics about the planned session.

The meetings will take place after a G20 summit on Afghanistan on October 12 aimed at preventing a humanitarian disaster in the aftermath of the Taliban’s takeover of power in mid-August.

In March, Russia, the United States, China, and Pakistan held an international summit on Afghanistan, during which they issued an unified statement urging the country’s then-warring parties to establish a peace agreement and reduce violence.

Russia is concerned about the possibility for regional fallout. Putin has warned that “Islamist extremists” could infiltrate Central Asia’s former Soviet republics, which Moscow considers as a southern defensive buffer.

Following the Taliban’s takeover, Moscow performed military drills in Tajikistan and upgraded its military weapons at its base there.

Putin also spoke by phone with Tajik President Emomali Rahmon on Thursday, during which the two leaders reviewed the security situation surrounding the current developments in Afghanistan, according to a statement from the Tajik administration.

In recent months, Moscow has taken steps to interact with the Taliban, but has refrained from officially recognising the group, which is classified as a “terrorist” organization in Russia.

Unlike Western countries, who hastened to withdraw diplomats in the aftermath of the Taliban’s resurgence, Russia has kept its embassy in Kabul open.

(with agency)

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