MOSCOW, February 18./TASS/. Russia does not rule the possibility of a Moscow-format meeting on the Afghan peace settlement, and is ready to provide a venue for dialogue of the Afghan parties if it gets a request, Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told a briefing on Thursday.
"In the future, we don’t rule out the possibility of a next meeting and the Moscow format. In case of necessity, if the parties to the intra-Afghan talks interested in a peaceful settlement show their interest, we will be ready to provide the Moscow venue for their dialogue," the diplomat said.
According to her, the warring Afghan parties got bogged down in discussing technical issues, having failed to start discussing key aspects of national reconciliation. The future state system of the country, lasting ceasefire and other key issues were listed among them.
"Stalemate at the talks was among the focal points at consultations of Russian Special Presidential Representative [for Afghanistan and Director of the Second Asia Department at the Russian Foreign Ministry Zamir] Kabulov and a delegation of the Political Office of the Taliban Movement," Zakharova said. "The Russian side emphasized the necessity of an early start of substantive intra-Afghan dialogue. The Taliban side pledged that they remained interested in constructive talks with the delegation of Kabul and committed to the Doha agreement with the US," Zakharova added.
She noted that additional efforts were needed currently to give an impetus to the process of the Afghan national reconciliation. "We intend to continue work on that track within the framework of an extended ‘trio’ - Russia, the US, China plus Pakistan," the diplomat said, adding that Russia also expected Iran to join it.
Zakharova told the briefing that Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov would hold talks with his Afghan counterpart Mohammad Hanif Atmar. The Afghan diplomat is expected to visit Moscow on February 24-27.