Zakharova: Incidents of civilian casualties in Afghanistan are regrettable

30 December 2021



Moscow regrets that there are incidents in Afghanistan leading to civilian casualties, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said at a briefing on Thursday.


"Incidents taking place in Afghanistan that result in casualties, of course, cause us to regret. The use of violence against civilians cannot be acceptable in any civilized country," she stressed.


The diplomat pointed out that in its contacts with the new Afghan leadership the Russian side called attention to the need for Kabul to respect fundamental human rights, including the rights of girls to education and women to work. " We should note the efforts made by the current Afghan authorities in this area. About a third of the country's provinces have resumed full classes for girls and higher educational institutions are gradually opening their doors," Zakharova said. According to her, the delay in this matter is due to the unpreparedness of the country's infrastructure due to the lack of funds for separate education.


In this connection, the Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson once again called on the Western countries to take urgent measures to unfreeze the Afghan national assets worth about $9 billion. "They are vital for the normalization of the socio-economic situation in the country," she pointed out.


In this context, according to her, there are doubts in sincerity of the rhetoric of the Western partners, who call for solving the problems of Afghanistan, but have not yet unblocked the assets of this country, on which the settlement of these problems largely depends.

 

 

GSV "Russia - Islamic World"

Photo: Creative Commons

Based on materials from TASS