Islamabad, Oct 20 (Asia Free Press): Pakistan, China, Iran, India and former Soviet Central Asian states joined Taliban officials at the Moscow meeting on Wednesday, reported Reuters.
However, the United States stayed away, citing technical reasons, while saying that it could attend such talks in the future.
Russia has called for international aid to support Kabul, as it hosted the Taliban at a major international conference on Afghanistan for the first time since the group took power in August.
“We are convinced that it is time to mobilise the resources of the international community to provide Kabul with effective financial humanitarian support, including to prevent a humanitarian crisis and reduce migration flows,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters before the meeting.
“We call on the Taliban movement – and we discussed this with their distinguished delegation – to prevent the use of Afghanistan’s territory against third countries, most importantly neighbours,” Lavrov said.
“We note the efforts undertaken by them to stabilise the military and political situation, to set up state institutions,” Lavrov said. Moscow was satisfied with cooperation from the Afghan authorities to ensure the safety of Russians in Afghanistan and the smooth working of its embassy, he said.
Lavrov did not put figures on how much aid Afghanistan might need or how much Russia was willing to provide.
The Taliban have promised to safeguard the rights of women and minorities, but their interim cabinet includes only men, nearly all from the Pashtun ethnic group which makes up less than half the population, from which they draw most of their support.
