MONITORING (SW) – A meeting on Afghanistan between the secretaries of the security councils of Central Asian countries, Pakistan, India and China will be held in Moscow next week, Russian Special Presidential Envoy for Afghanistan, Director of the Foreign Ministry’s Second Asian Department Zamir Kabulov told TASS on Friday.
“Yes, that’s true,” he said replying to a question on the matter. “There will be regional participants, the secretaries of the security councils of countries in the region are invited – our Central Asian partners, as well as Pakistan, India and China,” the diplomat explained.
On May 27, 2022, a fourth round of multilateral consultations on Afghanistan between top security officials was held in Dushanbe.
Russia and Pakistan emphasized in bilateral talks Wednesday the need for “practical engagement” with Afghanistan’s Taliban but ruled out formal recognition of the Islamist rulers until they address international concerns over women’s rights and inclusive governance.
The Russian presidential envoy for Afghanistan, Zamir Kabulov, led his delegation in the talks with Pakistani officials in Islamabad and briefed them on his meetings earlier this month with the Taliban in Kabul.
Kabulov said Moscow was continuing to engage with the Taliban but was not considering granting legitimacy to the de facto Afghan rulers “for the time being,” official Pakistani sources privy to Wednesday’s meetings told VOA.
The sources quoted the Russian envoy as saying he “advised” the Islamist Taliban to move toward creating a politically inclusive government and easing curbs on women, saying that otherwise there can be no movement forward on the issue of their legitimacy, nor can Afghanistan get any substantial support from the world.
A brief Pakistani statement posted on Twitter after Kabulov’s meeting with Deputy Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar said the two sides “emphasized [the] need for practical engagement with the interim Afghan government.”
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