KALININGRAD, August 17. /TASS/. The Taliban movement (outlawed in Russia) is demonstrating readiness for dialogue with various Afghan forces and it can be seen as a positive signal, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Tuesday.

"We are convinced and have known that for quite a long time that only, as they say now, an inclusive dialogue involving all key forces can serve as a step towards normalization of the situation in Afghanistan," he said at a meeting with students and lecturers of the Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University. "We support the former [Afghan] President [Hamid] Karzai’s call for such a dialogue, which should also involve <…> all ethnic groups, all religious groups. There is no other way. And the fact that the Taliban in Kabul are declaring and demonstrating in practice their readiness to respect other opinions, I think, it is a positive signal. Thus, they say they are ready to discuss a government that would include other Afghan representatives along with them."