MOSCOW: The Russian side is ready to provide a platform for direct talks between Afghanistan’s government and the Taliban movement (outlawed in Russia), the Russian Foreign Ministry reported on Wednesday due to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s upcoming visit to New York on January 18-19 where he will take part in the UN Security Council meetings on non-proliferation of mass destruction weapons and the situation in Afghanistan.
“The experience of international efforts on stabilisation in Afghanistan shows the ineffectiveness of attempts to solve problems by force. Serious steps are needed to launch the process of national reconciliation based on the UN Security Council resolutions,” the ministry noted.
“We stand for the speediest launch of direct negotiations between the government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and the Taliban movement in order to stop the fratricidal civil war. We are ready to provide a corresponding platform for it,” the ministry stressed.
The Russian foreign minister pointed out that the situation in Afghanistan affects “the implementation of safe development plans in the neighboring regions.” “It is clear that Afghanistan’s north is irreversibly turning into a terrorist stronghold headed by ISIS,” the ministry added.
“The overwhelming uptick in the growth of the Afghan drug production proves a buildup of financial support for international terrorism and requires taking the most decisive and hard-line measures to suppress the drug threat,” the ministry said.