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Russian diplomat calls on world community to help Afghanistan reach reconciliation

Russia’s Permanent Representative to the UN Geneva Office and other Geneva-based international organizations called on the conflicting Afghan parties to refrain from hostilities and promote peaceful settlement

GENEVA, August 24. /TASS/. The international community must help Afghanistan reach reconciliation and the extended Troika (Russia, the United States, China, and Pakistan) has a key role to play, Russia’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Geneva Office and other Geneva-based international organizations Gennady Gatilov said on Tuesday.

"We call for establishing a nationwide dialogue in Afghanistan to form a representative government," he said at a special session of the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) dedicated to the situation in Afghanistan. "Moscow is interested in the soonest settlement in Afghanistan, with the subsequent stabilization in the country and its post-conflict recovery."

"We insist that the international community must help Afghanistan reach national reconciliation. The extended Troika and the Moscow format, which have proved to be the most effective mechanisms of external support for the Afghan settlement, have a key role to play," he stressed, adding that Russia is concerned over the "acuteness of the terrorist threat and the drug problem stemming from it."

He called on the conflicting Afghan parties to refrain from hostilities and promote peaceful settlement.

The 31st UNHRC council was called at the request of Pakistan as a coordinator of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and of Afghanistan. The draft resolution that was published on Monday urged all parties to the conflict to stay committed to their liabilities under international law and desist from violence. It also envisages humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan and stressed the necessity of the transparent and swift investigation of human rights violations.

The Human Rights Council is an intergovernmental agency within the United Nations system. It has 47 member states, which are elected by the majority of votes by the United Nations General Assembly. Russia was reelected in October 2020 for a three-year period starting from January 1, 2021.

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