Moscow, Oct 4 (EFE).- Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov urged the West to lift sanctions on Afghanistan and return its assets on Friday in Moscow.
Lavrov was speaking during the sixth round of international consultations on normalizing the situation in Afghanistan, which is being held with the attendance of Taliban representatives.
“Once again, we appeal to Western countries with an urgent call to recognize responsibility for the post-conflict reconstruction of Afghanistan, lift sanctions restrictions and return the appropriated assets of Kabul,” said the head of Russian diplomacy, quoted by the state news agency TASS.
He said that Russia is “convinced of the need to maintain a pragmatic dialogue” with the Taliban government and added that Moscow supports the active stance of the Afghan authorities to tackle the threat of terrorism.
“Constructive interaction with Afghan partners meets the interests of security and economic development of the region, as well as the goals of intra-Afghan national accord,” Lavrov said, stressing that “it is obvious that it is impossible to resolve or even discuss the problems of Afghan settlement without Kabul.”
The foreign minister of the provisional Afghan government created by the Taliban movement, Amir Khan Muttaqi, is taking part in this round of consultations known as the Moscow Format.
Lavrov assured that Russia will continue to supply Afghanistan with food and basic goods on a regular basis, after pointing out that, according to UN data, more than 23 million Afghans, more than half of them children, need humanitarian aid.
“Moscow will also continue its course of developing political and trade-economic ties with Afghanistan,” he added.
Russia has maintained ties with the Taliban for several years, and receives their representatives despite the fact that the Afghan fundamentalist movement is included in the Russian list of terrorist organizations.
Russian authorities have declared their intention to remove the Taliban from the list of banned organizations, a procedure that is in its final phase, according to a statement made today in Kazakhstan by Russian Federal Security Service Director Alexander Bortnikov.
The Moscow Format was created in 2017 as a consultation mechanism on Afghanistan between special representatives of Russia, Afghanistan, India, Iran, China and Pakistan, with the aim of promoting the process of national reconciliation and the early establishment of peace in the Central Asian country.
Its first meeting was held in April of that year with tahe participation of representatives from 11 countries, including the Afghan side. EFE
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