Global Economy

No haste to recognise Taliban officially: Vladimir Putin


Less than a week before the Moscow Format meet on Afghan issue Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday asserted that while contact should be maintained with the Taliban (outlawed in Russia) there should be no haste to recognize them officially.

“There should be no haste to recognize the Taliban officially. We are aware that they should be cooperated with, but there is no place for haste,” Putin said at the CIS summit on Friday. He added that Moscow was going to discuss this issue with its CIS counterparts.

It may be recalled that Putin had earlier joined Indian PM Narendra Modi at the SCO Summit in expressing similar views on recognition of the Taliban government. India and Russia have been engaged in a series of consultations on the security scenario in the Afghan theatre.

Putin is not planning to meet the Taliban delegation led by its Deputy PM who will be in the Russian capital next week for the Moscow Format.

Putin stressed that the Taliban’s interim government regrettably failed to reflect the entire diversity of Afghan society. “At the same time, an intention has been announced to conduct general elections. Measures are being taken to restore the operation of public administration bodies to normal,” Putin said. “Within the CIS framework we will certainly keep track of whether these pledges are backed up by real action.”

“It is necessary to support the process of intra-Afghan reconciliation and to promote normalization in that country in general,” Putin said. “We all can contribute to the resumption of activities by the enlarged troika – Russia, the United States and China with Pakistan taking part (I would ask you to support this), and also the Moscow format, in which the region’s key countries, including Central Asian ones are involved,” Putin said. “We are moving towards holding meetings within the framework of these mechanisms in Moscow in the near future, in October.”

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that Moscow was expecting the arrival of a large Taliban delegation for consultations on Afghanistan next week. The Moscow format meeting is due on October 20. This platform emerged in 2017 on the basis of a six-party mechanism of consultations by special envoys from Russia, Afghanistan, India, Iran, China and Pakistan.

Meanwhile, Russian Special Presidential Envoy for Afghanistan and Director of the Foreign Ministry’s Second Asian Department Zamir Kabulov has stated that the euphoria of the victory in Afghanistan is beginning to wane for the Taliban and is being replaced by the realization of responsibility.

Alexander Sternik, director of the Russian interior ministry’s third CIS countries department, has stated that the Taliban is losing its anti-terrorist potential in Afghanistan due to a shortage of resources.



READ SOURCE

Leave a Reply

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this site, you accept our use of cookies.