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PAKISTAN-AFGHANISTAN
Pakistan, Russia seek to enhance bilateral ties, cooperate on
Afghanistan peace
ISLAMABAD, Jan 30, 2019 (BSS/TASS)- The Pakistani partners have confirmed their
determination to closely cooperate with Russia both on bilateral issues and on the
Afghan settlement, Russia’s Special Presidential Envoy for Afghanistan, Director of the
Russian Foreign Ministry’s Second Asian Department Zamir Kabulov told TASS.
“We are very satisfied by the recently held substantive consultations,” Kabulov said.
“The Pakistani partners once again confirmed their determination to closely cooperate
with Russia both on bilateral issues and also the Afghan settlement.” “We discussed a
whole number of events happening around Afghanistan,” he said.
In particular, the sides hashed over the US delegation’s talks with representatives
of the Taliban (outlawed in Russia) in Doha.
However, both Pakistan and Russia are not aware about the results of the US talks
with the Taliban, and the comments by US Special Representative for Afghanistan
Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad “do not give a full picture,” he noted.
“We are determined to play a constructive role in order to contribute to a speedy
national reconciliation in Afghanistan and ending the civil war in that country,”
Kabulov said.
“Russia and Pakistan are also watching together the US efforts to reach an agreement
with the Taliban, including on withdrawal of foreign troops from the country. This
would be a key step on a long path of establishing peace in Afghanistan,” the diplomat
stressed.
Pakistan’s role in Afghan settlement Commenting on Pakistan’s role in creating
preconditions for holding a meeting between the US representatives and the Taliban,
Kabulov noted that the Pakistani leadership is impartially assessing “its role in
launching a peace process.”
According to him, the US recently claimed that Pakistan is not providing assistance
for the Afghan settlement and threatened to cut financial support. “Now Washington was
forced to seek Islamabad’s assistance and it helped,” the diplomat noted.
MORE/AU/08:00 hrs
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Pakistan is also playing an active role in the framework of the Shanghai Cooperation
Organization, in particular the SCO-Afghanistan Contact Group, which seeks peace in
Afghanistan, Kabulov said.
Speaking on the SCO’s role in the Afghan process, the Russian special envoy said now
it’s important for Afghanistan to start actively participating in all SCO’s programs.
“The advantage of this organization is that there is no domination of Russia or
China. We respect partners regardless of their power, influence and size. Everyone from
this region is a member of one big SCO family and we would like the settlement process,
which has been launched, to continue,” he noted.
Prospects of Moscow format According to Kabulov, the Moscow format of talks on
Afghanistan is the best venue to discuss the Afghan settlement issues as it involves
all key players, including representatives of Afghanistan.
“This format is unique as for the first time the Taliban’s delegation took part
together with many representatives of regional states,” he said, noting that this kick
started the process.
Meanwhile, the Moscow format is not going to rival with other venues for peaceful
reconciliation. “Russia’s diplomacy is not setting a task to compete with anyone for
the number of meetings.
We are men of business in Russia like our partners in the format and we are not
planning to meet for the sake of a meeting,” he stressed. “When we and our partners
decide to meet and make one more practical step that will bring Afghanistan closer to
peace, we will gather, and we are not setting any particular dates, we are determined
to achieve a result.”
“Although the Moscow format has a particular goal of launching peaceful
reconciliation in Afghanistan, we are inevitably facing a common problem, namely the
Islamic State (terror group, outlawed in Russia). At this stage, both Moscow and
Islamabad view the IS as a common threat and this is a threat for Pakistan,
Afghanistan, Iran, China and Russia.”
“At first, we want to solve one task in the framework of the Moscow format, and then
all the others, but we are inevitably facing this IS problem,” he said.
BSS/TASS/AU/08:05 hrs