Russia is concerned about attempts by non -regional players to activate their activities in the Afghan direction. This is stated in the appeal of the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to the participants of the Moscow format of consultations on Afghanistan, which was read out at the meeting, the special representative of the President of the Russian Federation for Afghanistan Zamir Kabulov.
A full -fledged unification of the efforts of the countries of the region with the NATO Bloc states, as Lavrov notes, “is possible only on condition that the latter fully recognize all responsibility for the sad results of their 20 -year military presence in Afghanistan, which ended full of Fiasco.”
“Western countries, which have inflicted irreparable damage to the Afghan people, should take on the main burden of post -conflict restoration of the country. In this regard, Washington’s blocking Afghan banking aviators is counterproductive and only aggravates the state of affairs, complicates the already difficult living conditions of ordinary Afghans,” – noted the head of Russian diplomacy.
At the same time, Lavrov announced the unacceptability of the return of military infrastructure to the United States and NATO to Afghanistan and neighboring countries.
“under any circumstances, we consider it unacceptable to return the military infrastructure of the United States and NATO to the territory of Afghanistan and neighboring states, no matter how pretexts they justify. In this matter they intend to show special vigilance, call for this and all partners in Moscow format”, – says in the message of the Foreign Minister.
In Kazan, the fifth meeting of the Moscow format of consultations in Afghanistan is being held. For participation in a meeting in Kazan, among others, representatives of the Taliban movement arrived. The forum is also attended by the head of the Republic of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov, special representative of the President of Russia in Afghanistan, director of the 2nd Department of Asia of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Zamir Kabulov, the acting Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Provisional Government of Afghanistan Amir Khan Muttaki, as well as the delegation of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, China , UAE and Turkey.
The Moscow format was created in 2017 on the basis of a six -way mechanism for consultations of special representatives of Russia, Afghanistan, India, Iran, China and Pakistan. The first meeting took place on April 14, 2017 with the participation of deputy ministers and special representatives of 11 countries, including the Afghan side.
The previous, fourth, the meeting was held in November 2022 in Moscow without the participation of the Taliban.