Russian president Vladimir Putin believes that the Taliban (banned in Russia) must be cooperated with, but there is no hurry to recognize it.
"There is no need to rush with the official recognition of the Taliban for now. We understand that we need to interact with them, but we should not hurry with this either," the Russian head of state said at the CIS summit on Friday. He added that Moscow intends to discuss these issues with its CIS colleagues.
Putin pointed out that "the transitional government formed by the Taliban does not reflect the entire palette of the Afghan society". "At the same time the intention to conduct general elections was announced and the measures are being taken to restore normal operation of the state government bodies," stated the president of Russia. "Together with the CIS we will certainly monitor and follow up the implementation of these promises," assured the Russian leader.
"However, it is necessary to support the process of inter-Afghan reconciliation and strive to normalize the situation in this country, " Putin said. "We can all contribute to resuming the work of the extended troika, I mean Russia, the US and China with the participation of Pakistan (I would ask you to support this), as well as the Moscow format involving key countries of the region, including the Central Asian ones," said the Russian head of state. "We are leading the way toward holding meetings within the framework of these mechanisms in Moscow in the very near future in October," he said.
Earlier, Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Moscow expected a representative Taliban delegation to arrive next week for consultations on Afghanistan in the Moscow format. Presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov confirmed that contacts on Afghanistan were indeed being prepared.
The Moscow format meeting is scheduled for October 20. The format was created in 2017 on the basis of a six-party consultation mechanism of special representatives of Russia, Afghanistan, India, Iran, China and Pakistan.
Taliban's fight against drug traffick
It will not be easy for the Taliban to give up such a source of income as drug traffick, Putin believes. "Despite promises to fight drug production, in reality the Taliban - I don't know if they will succeed [whether] they want to do it or not," the Russian leader said. According to him, during their previous rule in Afghanistan (before 2001), "they did it, and they did it successfully."
"But today it will not be easy to give up such a source of income, especially given the crisis situation in the Afghan economy," stressed the Russian president.
Putin called the problem of drug production and smuggling in Afghanistan acute in general. "Afghanistan remains the largest supplier of opiates in the world, [taking] up to 90 percent of the volume of the global market," the Russian leader said.
Terrorist plans
Leaders of terrorist organizations concentrating forces near Afghanistan's borders with CIS countries are hatching plans to spread their influence, Putin said.
"We can clearly see the concentration of extremist and terrorist groups near the Commonwealth's borders: ISIS (former name of the Islamic State, IS, banned in Russia), the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (former name of the Islamic Party of Turkistan, banned in Russia), Jamaat Ansarullah, al-Qaeda (banned in Russia) and a number of others. According to our information, the number of militants of ISIS in the north of Afghanistan alone amounts to about 2,000 people," said the head of the Russian state.
According to Putin, "the leaders of terrorists nurture plans to extend their influence on the Central Asian states and Russian regions".
The Russian president noted that the terrorist leaders "rely on fomenting ethnic and religious conflicts and religious hatred". "Terrorists seek to penetrate into the territory of the Commonwealth, including under the guise of refugees," the Russian leader stressed.
"Of course, the situation in Afghanistan causes concern now, and it poses risks for Central Asia and for the entire CIS space, even though some countries are sort of on the sidelines of this region," Putin is sure. In his opinion, "the situation requires the intensification of joint efforts, primarily in the field of counter-terrorism and anti-drugs directions".
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: official website of the President of the Russian Federation
Based on materials from TASS