The Taliban (banned in Russia) movement has said it will not allow the use of Afghan territory for actions against Russia and neighboring countries.
"We came [to Moscow] to discuss the current situation in Afghanistan with the Russian side and to assure that we will not allow anyone to use Afghan ground to attack Russia or neighboring countries," Mohammad Sohail Shaheen, spokesman for the movement's political office, told TASS on Thursday.
He also explained that one of the important goals of their visit is to discuss the situation in northern Afghanistan. "The main purpose of our meeting is to discuss recent developments in Afghanistan, particularly in the north of the country. Many areas have recently come under our control," Shaheen said.
He said the delegation was able to exchange views with the Russian side and discuss possibilities for an early peaceful resolution of the conflict. "We also came here to hear the Russian side's views and suggestions, and to find out what the Russian Federation expects from us in this particular situation in Afghanistan. Thus, there was an exchange of views on many issues, including inter-Afghan negotiations and ways to accelerate the process of achieving a peaceful solution to the conflict as soon as possible," said an official of the Taliban's political office.
According to him, the Taliban does not intend to attack foreign countries' diplomatic missions in Afghanistan and confirms the safety of employees of the Russian Consulate General in Mazar-i-Sharif.
"We have very good relations with them, with Russia. We are not going to attack them. Why would we do that if we have good relations? We have stated publicly that we don't consider embassies and consulates on the territory of Afghanistan, in particular, Russian ones or those of any other countries, as our target".
Earlier, Zamir Kabulov, the Russian President's special representative for Afghanistan and director of the Second Asia Department of the Foreign Ministry, told TASS that the Russian consulate general in the city of Mazar-i-Sharif had temporarily ceased operations due to the deteriorating situation in the north of Afghanistan.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
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Based on materials from TASS