Iran, Russia, India to discuss Afghanistan situation

Tehran, IRNA – Representatives from Russia, India, and Iran will hold a consultation session to hold talks on the situation in Afghanistan. According to Economic Times, the three states with similar concerns on the Taliban government in Afghanistan will hold a trilateral session on the sidelines of the Moscow Format Consultative Meeting. The Fourth Moscow Format Consultative Meeting is being held on November 16 and India is expected to play a key role in the negotiations to help stabilize Afghanistan. The main objective of the Fourth Moscow Format Consultative Meeting is to facilitate national reconciliation in Afghanistan in order to promote peace in the war-stricken country; although, Taliban would not have any delegation in this round of consultations. Informed sources claimed that the Russian government is not pleased with the current situation of Taliban in Afghanistan, as well as the condition in Pakistan. Sergei Lavrov, Russian Foreign Minister, said in a joint press conference with his Indian counterpart Subrahmanyam Jaishankar that the situation is Kabul is not satisfactory and the Taliban could not implement their promises in respect of Afghan people in a proper pace. According to Lavrov, Moscow will save connections with Taliban representatives, and they will become aware of what is going on in the Fourth Moscow Format Consultative Meeting. Delegations from Russia, China, India, Iran, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan are scheduled to participate in the Fourth Moscow Format Consultative Meeting. Reports say that the United States has not been invited to take part in the Moscow meeting. Hassan Kazemi Ghomi, Iran's special envoy in Afghanistan affairs, will represent the Islamic Republic in the Wednesday meeting. Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are going to participate in the meeting as guests. Security issues such as Daesh (ISIL) presence in Afghanistan are among the topics of the Moscow meeting. Follow us on Twitter @IrnaEnglish