The Russian Foreign Minister said on Friday at the Moscow format meeting that the United States and its allies are trying to take control of the process of resolving the Afghan crisis.
Sergey Lavrov called on his allies to be vigilant about the fact that the United States wants to use the United Nations for this purpose.
"In this regard, I want to be vigilant against the efforts of the United States and its allies to involve themselves in the settlement processes in order to control them, including using the authority of the United Nations for these nefarious purposes," he added.
Lavrov said that Afghanistan still has numerous problems and that Russia is working steadily to solve these problems. The Russian diplomat said that for this purpose, the country is developing the Moscow format and the mechanisms of meetings of neighbouring countries.
"We are convinced that these regional mechanisms can achieve the most important results by combining their efforts," Lavrov stressed.
Various terrorist groups in Afghanistan
In another part of his speech, the Russian Foreign Minister said that various terrorist groups are still present in Afghanistan and carry out attacks outside the country.
At the same time, he called for assistance to Afghanistan in the fight against terrorism.
Emphasis on continuing talks
Sergey Lavrov added, "Moscow is in favour of pragmatic dialogue with Kabul.”
The Russian Foreign Minister explained: "We believe that pragmatic dialogue with the Taliban should be maintained as constructive interaction with Afghan partners will secure the security interests and economic development of the region, as well as the goals of intra-Afghan national coordination."
He also said that Russia supports the Taliban's actions to stop terrorist threats in the region.
The 6th Moscow Format Meeting on Afghanistan began on Friday morning, October 4. Representatives of Russia, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, China, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and the Taliban are attending the meeting. The main part of the meeting will be held behind closed doors.
A joint statement is expected to be issued after the meeting.
