The euphoria of the victory in Afghanistan is starting to fade away for representatives of the Taliban (banned in the Russian Federation), giving way to an understanding of responsibility. This was stated on Friday by Zamir Kabulov, Russian president's special representative for Afghanistan and Director of the Second Asia department of the Russian foreign ministry, speaking at the session "Afghanistan in the system of regional relations" at MGIMO.
"The most important thing that I paid attention to, talking together with Chinese, Pakistani special envoys, my colleagues, [with the Taliban], I saw that the period of euphoria from the victory, so unexpected even for the Taliban themselves, starts to fade away and give way to a sense of responsibility, because many have to decide on the fly, and the skills to solve such problems are missing," he said.
According to Kabulov, this is a good signal to build a constructive dialogue. "If we really sincerely care about the interests of the whole Afghan people and not separate ethnic or social categories, we should build relationships," he added.
Kabulov also said that Russia intends to discuss with the Taliban delegation its claims and ways to solve problems in Afghanistan at a meeting in the Moscow format on October 20, and Moscow does not expect breakthrough solutions from these talks. "We will be frank with the Afghan delegation about our grievances, but not in the form of demands, but in the form of a meeting about how we could constructively begin to solve these problems. We are not expecting any breakthrough solutions, this process is a long, evolutionary process, we are proceeding from that understanding. It will deal with all human rights issues, but at the same time with the humanitarian situation in Afghanistan and ways to solve it," he said.
Kabulov reminded that with regard to Afghanistan, the topics of combating drug trafficking and the terrorist threat are a priority for Russia, as well as for other countries. "Of course, we expect, and I have no doubt that this will happen, that the new Afghan authorities will reconfirm their commitments not to allow the use of Afghan territory against the security interests of not only neighboring, but also other countries," the special presidential representative added.
Earlier, Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that Moscow expects a representative Taliban delegation to arrive next week to participate in consultations on Afghanistan in the Moscow format, which is scheduled for October 20. The format was established in 2017 on the basis of a six-party consultation mechanism of special representatives of Russia, Afghanistan, India, Iran, China and Pakistan.
The special session "Afghanistan in the system of regional relations" takes place within the framework of the XIII Congress of the Russian association of international studies (RAIS) "Thirty years of the New Russia's foreign policy".
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: Press Service of the Russian Foreign Ministry / TASS
Based on materials from TASS