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India awaits outcome of Moscow-format meeting on Afghanistan — top diplomat

Earlier, Russian Special Presidential Envoy for Afghanistan and Director of the Foreign Ministry’s Second Asian Department Zamir Kabulov said that a delegation of the Taliban’s interim government would not participate in the Moscow-format meeting on consultations on Afghanistan

MOSCOW, November 8. /TASS/. New Delhi is looking forward to the outcome of a Moscow-format session of consultations on Afghanistan scheduled for November 16, India’s Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said following talks with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov on Tuesday.

"We discuss Afghanistan in various formats. It is part of the tradition of our relationship, India and Russia," he said.

"In some of these formats we have cooperated. So we look forward to being present here during the Moscow format as well," the Indian top diplomat stressed.

Earlier, Russian Special Presidential Envoy for Afghanistan and Director of the Foreign Ministry’s Second Asian Department Zamir Kabulov said that a delegation of the Taliban’s interim government would not participate in the Moscow-format meeting on consultations on Afghanistan. The meeting will be held on November 16, and as Lavrov noted, it will be attended by his Indian colleagues as well as by other participants of previous meetings of this kind.

The Moscow format includes Russia, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, China, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. The previous meeting was held on October 20, 2021. It was attended by the Taliban interim government delegation led by Acting Second Deputy Prime Minister Abdul Salam Hanafi.

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Foreign policy Afghanistan India

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