SOCHI, September 10. /TASS/. Russia’s foreign ministry has not recommended the country’s leadership to send a delegation to any inauguration of Afghanistan’s new government formed by the Taliban (outlawed in Russia). The presence of the ambassador will be enough, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Friday.
"They [the Taliban] announced the inauguration. Later, they revised these plans. Frankly speaking, we never planned to recommend our leadership to be represented by a delegation from Moscow at the inauguration ceremony. From the very beginning, we thought that the ambassador would be quite enough to represent us there, taking into account the development of the situation," he said.
According to the Russian top diplomat, the Taliban are undecided about the new Afghan government and about their inauguration plans. "We did not refuse [to take part in the inauguration ceremony]. There simply will be no inauguration. No one has refused. I think it is an obvious problem that they [the Taliban] are still undecided about what they should do first. There are no behind-the-scenes games or disputes," he said, adding that the Taliban "change their plans every day, including concerning the inclusiveness of the political process" and the government inauguration ceremony.
Several local and foreign mass media outlets reported earlier that the Taliban planned to organize the inauguration of the new government on September 11 and had invited Russia, Iran, China, Qatar, Turkey, and Pakistan to attend it.
Meanwhile, Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov said on Friday that Moscow will not take part in the inauguration of Afghanistan’s new government in any capacity.
After the Biden administration announced the end of its US military operation in Afghanistan and the launch of its troop pullout, the Taliban embarked on an offensive against Afghan government forces. On August 15, Taliban fighters swept into Kabul without encountering any resistance and gained full control over the Afghan capital within a few hours. Afghanistan’s President Ashraf Ghani said he had stepped down to prevent any bloodshed and subsequently fled the country. On September 6, the Taliban said it had taken control of the entire country and announced a new interim government on the following day. The government is formed by Taliban members only, who mostly represent the biggest ethnic group in Afghanistan, the Pushtu.