On October 12, Russian and Indian foreign ministers Sergei Lavrov and Subramaniam Jaishankar met in Nur-Sultan on the margins of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA). According to the foreign ministry, the main topic of discussion was the situation in Afghanistan and the Asia-Pacific region.
“They discussed topical issues of the bilateral agenda, as well as international and regional problems, including the situation in Afghanistan and the Asia-Pacific region. Special attention was paid to cooperation in the SCO and in the “Russia-India-China” (RIC) format”, — the press service of the Foreign Ministry said.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs of Russia, Sergei Lavrov, commented on what is happening in Afghanistan:
“Unfortunately, geopolitical arrangements in the region are not getting any easier, holding back its transition to the system of coordinates of comprehensive multilateral cooperation and integration. We see purposeful attempts to “warm up” the situation, to undermine the existing mechanisms of interstate cooperation”, — he said.
In addition, Lavrov added that the reconstruction of the country should fall on the shoulders of NATO countries, which should bear responsibility for their twenty-year experiments:
“The international community, first of all Afghanistan’s neighbors, are offered to solve the problems”;
“They have been there for 20 years, building a state that doesn’t exist”, — the minister commented on the situation in Afghanistan.
What has happened?
On August 14, 2021, a critical situation emerged in Afghanistan: militants of the movement «Taliban» (a terrorist organization banned in Russia) almost came close to Kabul (the capital of Afghanistan). On 15 August, militants entered Kabul and declared war over the following day. During the last two weeks of August, European countries and the United States urgently evacuated diplomats and other representatives. On the night of August 31, the American military withdrew from Kabul airport, ending the US military presence in Afghanistan.
In early September, the composition of the interim government of Afghanistan was announced, with Mohammad Hassan Akhund as its head. Under the first rule of the Taliban (a terrorist organization banned in Russia), Mohammad was the head of the Foreign Ministry and has been under UN sanctions since 2001.
In addition to discussing the situation in Afghanistan, Sergey Lavrov and Subramaniam Jayshankar confirmed the mutual commitment of their countries to the further maintenance and development of Russian-Indian contacts at all levels.
