The United States and its allies must take responsibility for the complicated situation in Afghanistan, a joint statement by the foreign ministers of Russia, Iran, China, and Pakistan following an informal meeting in Samarkand reads.
"The ministers noted that the US and its allies should take responsibility for the current complicated situation in Afghanistan, and should immediately lift the unilateral sanctions imposed on Afghanistan and return foreign [Afghan] assets," the statement, the text of which was published on Thursday in the official Telegram channel of the Iranian foreign ministry, reads.
In addition, the foreign ministers of Russia, Iran, China, and Pakistan spoke out against the restoration of "military bases in and around Afghanistan" by the United States and its allies. As noted, this is "not conducive to regional peace and stability."
In the spring of 2021 the radical Taliban (banned in the Russian Federation) launched a large-scale operation to take control of Afghanistan after the US announced the decision to withdraw its military forces from there. On August 15 radicals entered Kabul without a fight and on September 7 announced the composition of their provisional government whose legitimacy has not been recognized by any country so far. The economic situation in Afghanistan remains extremely difficult. This happens largely because the new Afghan authorities have access to only a small part of the state reserves (of $9.4 billion), because a significant part of them was frozen by the United States.
GSV "Russia - Islamic world"
Photo: ResoluteSupportMedia/Creative Commons 2.0
Based on materials from TASS