Some forces in Pakistan would like to repeat the Taliban's (banned in Russia) experience and destabilize the situation in this country, Zamir Kabulov, the Russian President's Special Representative for Afghanistan and Director of the Second Asia Department of the Russian Foreign Ministry, said in an online briefing on Thursday.
"Pakistan is a firm partner of Russia. We are on the same page in the sense that the Pakistani leadership, it has stated this publicly at the highest level, is not interested in turning Afghanistan into an Islamic emirate that will project influence on Pakistani society itself, which also has forces that may be inspired by the experience of the Afghan Taliban and try to destabilize the situation in the Islamic republic," he said.
As Kabulov noted, the interests of Pakistan, the Russian Federation, as well as neighboring countries regarding an Afghan settlement coincide. "Pakistan, like Russia, like virtually all of its neighbors, is interested in Afghanistan restoring, if I may say so, its normality and becoming a reliable trade and economic bridge between Pakistan and Eurasia," he noted.
The Russian President's Special Representative for Afghanistan stressed that the aggravation of relations between Kabul and Islamabad is caused primarily by the internal political situation in Afghanistan itself. Yes, there are outbursts and then a subsequent calm, and we are probably in the next phase of aggravation caused by the military-political events in Afghanistan," he said. - "It sometimes feels like those in Kabul, who are supposed to answer and protect their territories from the Taliban when they have failed in that task, are looking for a scapegoat, and Pakistan always seems to be a very convenient target."
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: Press Service of the Russian Foreign Ministry / TASS
Based on materials from TASS