MOSCOW (TASS): The next meeting of the expanded “troika” on the Afghan settlement (RF, USA, China, Pakistan) is planned for the second half of November in Islamabad. This was announced on Monday at an online conference by the special representative of the President of the Russian Federation for Afghanistan, director of the second department of Asia of the Foreign Ministry Zamir Kabulov.
“We have the initiative of our Pakistani colleagues to convene a meeting of the enlarged troika in Islamabad in the second half of November,” he said.
Kabulov pointed out that the new US special envoy has already written that he expects the dates to be announced, which means that the US will participate. “At this meeting, we plan to discuss concrete practical issues, how, together now with the UN, we will begin to work on this project, already having the support of all regional key states,” he added.
Russia will take part in the ministerial meeting of Afghanistan’s neighbors in Tehran on October 27, said Kabulov.
“Russia will definitely take part in this meeting of neighboring countries, we will inform about modalities and composition a little later,” he said. “Although Russia is not a de facto neighbor, it is perceived as an important country, therefore it is invited.”
Kabulov also added that the United States has not been invited to participate. “It’s hard for me to imagine in any case,” the special representative said.
Moscow expects Washington to keep its promises to provide social and economic assistance to Afghanistan to rebuild the country, said Kabulov.
“We hope that our colleagues in the United States really intend to fulfill the declarations that were made at the highest level by them on their commitment to continuing to provide assistance to the Afghan people. And not only humanitarian, which is now urgently needed, but also in future projects. development, but first it would be necessary to tackle the restoration, which turns into development, “he said.
“Therefore, we hope that our American colleagues will fulfill these promises and will work closely not only with the troika, but also broadly with the regionals and even more globally and broadly,” the diplomat said.
Kabulov added that Moscow is discussing this issue not only with the Americans, saying that last week he had consultations with colleagues from France. “I am expecting the German special envoy for Afghanistan by the end of this week,” he said.
According to the diplomat, cooperation in a broader format to assist Afghanistan is now on the agenda. “We will work with all key global, international partners, not only regional ones,” Kabulov stressed.
Russia welcomes the EU’s plans to return the diplomatic mission to Kabul and urges to move from words to deeds on this issue, Kabulov added.
“I heard about it. Great. It’s time to move from talking to business. We generally proceeded from the fact that it was not necessary to leave by and large,” he said, commenting on the relevant information.
Kabulov noted that representatives of the EU will arrive in Moscow in the first ten days of November, with whom he plans to meet and discuss issues related to Afghan issues.
The special representative of the president recalled that after the Taliban came to power, not only the Russian, Chinese and Pakistani embassies did not leave Kabul, but also the diplomatic missions of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan continued their work. “No threat to the security of any of these foreign missions has yet been noticed,” Kabulov added.
“I hope that this will continue. In any case, the new Kabul authorities are doing everything in their power to ensure such security.”
Special representative of the President of the Russian Federation further said that contacts of the Russian special services with representatives of the Taliban movement are conditioned by the security issues of the Russians and the embassy in Afghanistan.
“There are such contacts [of the special services with the Taliban], and they are absolutely justified and necessary. This concerns the security of our embassy, ??our citizens who live in Afghanistan,” he said.
“There are not so many of them, but quite enough, so we need to take care of our institutions and citizens,” Kabulov added.
The diplomat stressed that all Russian citizens who want to leave Afghani-stan will be taken out.
The main result of the meeting on Afghanistan in the Moscow format, held on October 20, was the expression of a common position of the regional countries on resolving the situation in the country, special representative of the President of the Russian Federation said.
“Among the main results of this event was the expre-ssion of a common position by the regional states, both bordering directly on Afgh-anistan and in the region’s neighborhood, their expectations from the new authorities of Afghanistan. the inclusive nature of the new Afghan government, observance of basic human norms,” he said.
Kabulov said that almost all the participants in the meeting in the Moscow format declared their readiness to consider the issue of recognizing the new government of Afghanistan.
“It is clear that the Afghan delegation came in the hope of enlisting support in the official recognition of the new interim government of Afghanistan. Almost all the participants, with a few exceptions, of this meeting stressed their readiness to seriously consider this issue, but as if in response to the positive reaction of these authorities in all matters On many issues, they [the Afghan authorities] reaffirmed the previously stated and stated positions. This applies to terrorism and drug-related crime, and the non-use of Afghan territory against the security of neighboring and other states. These were important moments, so we agreed to work further,” he said…
The special representative of the president believes that the statement in the Moscow format will have a positive effect on the process of recognizing the Taliban. “Probably, it will have a positive effect,” he said, answering the relevant question.
“President [Vladimir] Putin said about this that everything is going in this direction. So it’s not just a matter of time, but a question of further behavior, the policy of the new Afghan government both within the country and abroad.
Of course, this creates a good basis for starting the movement towards the recognition of the new authorities.”
According to the diplomat, no timeframe has been set for the possible recognition of the Taliban. “This was not a task for the Moscow format,” Kabulov said.
Kabulov also said that Russia regrets that the meeting in the Moscow format on Afghanistan failed to ensure a broad representation of other ethnopolitical forces, except the Taliban, in the Afghan delegation.
We are just at the beginning of our journey, we will continue to work.
But at the end of the day, let us respect the other state as we expect ourselves.
The last word on the composition of the delegation should remain with the Afghans, “the diplomat added.
At the same time, the special representative of the President of the Russian Federation pointed out that the absence of representatives of other ethnopolitical forces in the Afghan delegation did not in any way affect the course of the negotiations in Moscow, because this was known in advance.
Kabulov recalled that the members of the Taliban movement who seized power in Afghanistan “reacted very positively” to the statement of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who on October 21, at a meeting of the Valdai International Club, admitted the possibility of excluding the Taliban from the list of terrorist organizations, stressing that Moscow’s position “will be to move in this direction.”
The participants in the meeting in the Moscow format on October 20 stated the need to build interaction with the authorities of the Islamic republic “regardless of the official recognition of the new Afghan government by the international community.”
Kabulov also said that Russia is interested in the earliest possible holding of a donor conference on Afghanistan under the auspices of the UN. “All participants in the Moscow format agreed that such a conference should be held under the auspices of the UN, so we will work with the UN secretariat in New York,” he noted.
Like all Afghans and regionals, we are interested in this event taking place as soon as possible, taking into account the entire situation.”
The diplomat recalled that at the donor meeting on Afghanistan held in September, “readiness was expressed to provide some assistance to this country, but there they talked about emergency humanitarian aid.” “We believe that the donor conference [under the auspices of the UN] should focus on larger issues,” he added.
Kabulov refrained from giving a specific answer to the question regarding the time and place of the donor conference. “Let the colleagues [from the UN] be determined, we will provide support,” he concluded.
The last word on the exclusion of the Taliban from the list of terrorist organizations should be for the members of the UN Security Council (SC), Kabulov said. “Usually, the UN Security Council members come up with a formal initiative,” the diplomat said.”
First, we ourselves must agree on whether the Taliban have begun to meet the criteria that the world community expects from them. Our president also spoke about this. We expect this,”..> the UN Security Council has the last word. It’s a matter of technology.”
At the same time, Kabulov urged not to get ahead of the events. “We patiently explained to our Afghan guests in Moscow that they will have to meet the expectations of the world community and the diverse Afghan people,” he said. just that way.”
The freezing of Afghanistan’s assets in the US and the EU is outrageous, they must be unfrozen, and Russia will seek this solution, Kabulov said. “Of the $ 9.5 billion in state holdings, more than 8 billion [are frozen] in the United States, and 1.5 billion, as we are told, in Europe are frozen.
This is absolutely outrageous, they should be unfrozen.
Moreover, those people who in Washington advocate the well-being of the Afghan people, act as hypocrites, because now the Taliban urgently need $ 300 million just to pay back wage arrears to state employees. Are they punishing the Afghan government or the people? It turns out, the second,” he said.
Kabulov stressed that the national reserves are not connected with the Taliban movement and belong to the Afghans. “This was reflected in the final document of the Moscow format. This must be resolved, and we will continue to seek [defrost] with other international partners,” he added.
Kabulov believes that the reserves belonging to the Afghan people should be returned to him, because “if the West tries to strangle the new government of Afghanistan with the” bony hand of hunger,” this could lead to the development of the drug industry and arms trade from Afghanistan.” If the West wants it this way. then they are on the right track.
The impoverished Afghan population, whose proportion is growing every day, will have only two options: to join destructive international terrorist groups in order to somehow earn a living, or en masse to seek emigration to Europe, against which, at least in rhetoric, Europe as times and objects. If they want otherwise, they must do everything to encourage Afghans to stay in their homeland, Kabulov also recalled that huge stockpiles of weapons remained in Afghanistan after the withdrawal of the US armed forces. “This is my speculation, but imagine that states will begin to turn to the Taliban with an interest in acquiring these weapons, and if international terrorist groups?
