Further practical engagement with Afghanistan needed to take into account the new reality, this is one of the key conclusions of the third meeting of the Moscow format of consultations on Afghanistan.
Wednesday's meeting was attended by representatives of Russia, China, Pakistan, Iran, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan, as well as a high-ranking delegation of the interim Afghan government.
In a joint statement issued following the meeting, participants called on the current Afghan leadership to practice moderate and sound internal and external policies, adopt friendly policies towards neighbors of Afghanistan
Participants also expressed concern over the deteriorating economic and humanitarian situation in Afghanistan, and called to launch a collective initiative to convene a broad-based international donor conference under the auspices of the United Nations, certainly with the understanding that the core burden of post-conflict economic and financial reconstruction and development of Afghanistan must be shouldered by troop-based actors which were in the country for the past 20 years.
"A fait accompli"
Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov, who opened the meeting, spoke about the need to build relations with Afghanistan taking into account a "fait accompli" - the coming to power of the Taliban (banned in Russia). According to him, the new balance of forces established in Afghanistan "has no alternatives for the foreseeable future".
"After a fundamental change of the situation on the ground, it is useless to look for someone to blame for the failure to achieve a tangible result in the matter of national reconciliation. <...> Now a new administration is in power. This fait accompli places great responsibility on the Taliban movement," said the head of Russian diplomacy.
He emphasized that the key to the successful realization of sustainable peace in Afghanistan is the "formation of a truly inclusive government, which should fully reflect the interests of all ethnic and political forces in the country".
The theses formulated by the Russian minister were reflected in the final statement, which said that "further practical engagement with Afghanistan needed to take into account the new reality, that is the Taliban coming to power in the country, irrespective of the official recognition of the new Afghan government by the international community".
They called on the government of Afghanistan to "take further steps to improve governance and to form a truly inclusive government that adequately reflects the interests of all major ethnopolitical forces in the country".
At the same time, Abdul Salam Hanafi, deputy chairman of the interim government of Afghanistan, who participated in the meeting, noted that the Afghan cabinet "is now also inclusive". "If the new government is not recognized, if it is not supported, certainly the groups that threaten Afghanistan's security will only increase their influence," Hanafi added, speaking at the press conference following the meeting.
Befriending neighbors
The joint statement said that the countries taking part in the meeting "were pleased to note the reaffirmation by the interim Afghan government of its previous commitments to prevent use of the Afghan territory against its neighbors, other States in the region and the rest of the world".
The participants in the Moscow format called on the Afghan authorities "to conduct moderate and sound internal and external policies, adopt friendly policies towards neighbors of Afghanistan, achieve the shared goals of durable peace, security, safety, and long-term prosperity, and respect the rights of ethnic groups, women and children".
Expressing "concern over the activities of proscribed terrorist organizations in Afghanistan", the sides "reaffirmed their willingness to continue to promote security in Afghanistan to contribute to regional stability".
"I can assure you that the new Afghan government is doing everything to ensure the security of the country and its citizens. No one is persecuted on the basis of ethnic, religious, linguistic, gender or other differences," deputy prime minister Hanafi told reporters following the meeting.
The Taliban are now "fully responsible for the new government and what is happening in the country and along its borders," Hanafi said. According to him, "the policy of the new government is to ensure the security of the Afghan people, the security of its neighbors and the entire region".
In turn, Amir Khan Mottaki, foreign minister in the interim Afghan government, said that the new Afghan authorities "practically proved by their actions that the territory of Afghanistan will not be used against anyone".
Restoration aid
The participants of the Moscow meeting were deeply concerned about "the deteriorating economic and humanitarian situation in Afghanistan". "Experts do not rule out a worsening of the humanitarian situation associated with the inability of a large part of the Afghan population to provide themselves with a balanced meal," said, in particular, the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry.
He said in his speech that Russia plans "to send another batch of humanitarian aid to the friendly Afghan people". The foreign minister said that the United Nations should play the central coordinating role in the consolidation of international efforts in Afghanistan. Lavrov also expressed hope that Western countries, whose presence in Afghanistan led to the difficult situation in the country, would show responsibility towards Afghans. "It becomes very urgent for the West not only to provide humanitarian aid in its traditional form, but also to help pay the salaries of socially important categories of citizens such as doctors and teachers," he explained.
Sharing the Russian approach, the participants of the meeting proposed "launching a collective initiative to convene a broad-based international donor conference under the auspices of the United Nations as soon as possible, certainly with the understanding that the core burden of post-conflict economic and financial reconstruction and development of Afghanistan must be shouldered by troop-based actors which were in the country for the past 20 years".
Commenting on the call, Khairullah Khairkhwa, minister of information and culture in the interim Afghan government, calling the meeting "very good and very useful," said that all participants "were in solidarity with the need for humanitarian aid to Afghanistan".
In addition, he said, the meeting participants agreed that Washington should unfreeze the Afghan Central Bank accounts, which is about $9.4 billion. "Almost all countries were unanimous that the US needs to stop imposing financial restrictions on Afghanistan as soon as possible. All these [frozen] funds belong to the people of Afghanistan, so the Americans have no right to freeze this money," Hairhwa said.
About the Moscow Format
The Moscow 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. Its first meeting was held on April 14, 2017, with the participation of deputy ministers and special representatives of 11 countries: Russia, Afghanistan, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, China, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. The primary goal of the format is to promote national reconciliation in Afghanistan and the earliest possible establishment of peace in the country. Moscow then called the first meeting "a frank and thorough exchange of opinions". At the end of the consultations, participants called on the international community to continue providing multifaceted assistance to Afghanistan.
The second meeting, which took place on November 9, 2018, for the first time was attended by a delegation from the Taliban political office in Doha. Also participating in the second meeting was the US, which was invited to the first meeting, but then Washington declined due to the lack of a strategy for the new presidential administration on the Afghan track at the time.
The US did not participate in this meeting. The Russian foreign minister expressed regret over that, and suggested that the recent change of the US special representative for Afghanistan might be one of the reasons of their absence. " I hope that the US remains ready to work actively on Afghanistan, and that the new special envoy will join the steps, including the results of the current meeting of the Moscow format," Lavrov said.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: Russian Foreign Ministry
Based on materials from TASS