Kabulov, Khalilzad to meet in Ankara on Feb 22

Monitoring Desk

KABUL: Russia’s special presidential envoy for Afghanistan on Tuesday said he will be meeting his American counterpart Zalmay Khalilzad in the Turkish capital Ankara on Feb 22.

Also head of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Second Asia Department, Zamir Kabulov said he and Khalilzad will particularly discuss preparations for the next round of Moscow consultations on Afghanistan.

The Russian envoy said he would also hold consultations on the Afghan issue with Turkish diplomats during his visit to Ankara.

He said Russia would like the Taliban to take part in the July presidential election in Afghanistan as their non-recognition of the election has an adverse effect on the situation in the country.

“I would like the Taliban to take part in that election. However, their approach is different. They do not fully recognize the current constitution of Afghanistan,” he said. “The Taliban did not recognize the presidential elections in the past as well, and that will, of course, have an adverse effect on the situation. However, if the Taliban movement needs an acceptable partner willing to conduct negotiations, they will have to agree with that.”

“The Taliban movement may be controlling up to 70% of Afghanistan’s total area”, he added. “The Taliban members are controlling more than half of Afghanistan’s territory. Directly speaking, they may be controlling up to 70% of the country’s territory,” he said.

Russia does not rule out the possibility of cooperation with the Taliban in the fight against the Islamic State “Why not?” he said, adding that “the Taliban is fighting against the Islamic State in Afghanistan fairly successfully even without that cooperation.” (Pajhwok)