Russia to invite Taliban to international conference

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Russia, which is taking a keen interest in the situation in Afghanistan, said Thursday its intention to invite the Taliban to international talks on October 20. Moscow considers the movement to be terrorist, but has been in dialogue with it for years.

International talks on Afghanistan. Russia will invite the Taliban to participate in an exchange on October 20, announced Thursday, October 7, the Kremlin’s envoy to Afghanistan, quoted by Russian press agencies.

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Asked whether or not an invitation was sent to the Taliban regime which seized power in Afghanistan in August after the withdrawal of American forces, the Russian envoy, Zamir Kabulov, replied in the affirmative. However, he did not specify who, from the Taliban regime, would be invited to these discussions.

China, Iran, Pakistan and India, which together with Russia form the “Moscow Format on Afghanistan”, have also been invited to these international discussions, of which neither the agenda nor the level of representation. have been detailed.

This international conference will take place after an extraordinary G20 summit devoted to the critical humanitarian situation in Afghanistan on 12 October.

Humanitarian aid

Zamir Kabulov said Russia was working on the concrete modalities of sending humanitarian aid to Afghanistan, adding that “material” was being gathered for shipment.

Russia is taking a keen interest in the situation in Afghanistan, a country occupied by Soviet forces for 10 years until their withdrawal in 1989 after a bloody war. Moscow considers the Islamist movement to be terrorist, but has been in dialogue with it for years.

The Kremlin has been conciliatory since their seizure of power, because of their promises not to allow “terrorist” organizations to establish themselves there, not to attack their neighbors, in particular the countries of Central Asia. allies of Russia, and to curb the trafficking of heroin and opium.

Russia, however, carried out joint military maneuvers during the summer with the forces of its allies in Central Asia, worried about destabilization at their borders.

Zamir Kabulov also indicated that Russia was not “in a hurry” to address the issue of lifting UN sanctions against the Taliban.

With AFP