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No need for new agreements on Afghanistan, Lavrov says

Russian top diplomat stressed that there was a need to implement what had already been agreed by the Afghan government and the Taliban movement

TASHKENT, July 16. /TASS/. Moscow believes that there is no need to make new agreements to resolve the situation in Afghanistan, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told reporters on the sidelines of an international conference dubbed "Central and South Asia: Regional Connectivity. Challenges and Opportunities" on Friday.

"We think that it [resolving the situation in Afghanistan] does not require any new agreements. There is a need to implement what has already been agreed by the [Afghan] government and the Taliban movement [outlawed in Russia]," he said in response to a TASS question.

"Some other formats are being discussed here on the sidelines of the conference, and there can be numerous ones. Many would probably want - and most of them in good faith - to help provide impetus to the political process that has been stalled for a long time," Lavrov added.

Representatives of the Afghan government and the Taliban movement have been holding talks in Qatar’s capital of Doha since September 2020. The delegations have so far limited themselves to discussing the agenda for future peace talks. An Afghan government delegation led by Chairman of the High Council for National Reconciliation Abdullah Abdullah is expected to depart for Doha later in the week.

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