DUSHANBE, June 6. /TASS/. As the Taliban (outlawed in Russia) is the dominant political force in Afghanistan, it is in the interests of the region to develop a working dialogue with them, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said speaking at the Russian-Tajik Slavonic University on Tuesday.
"We are convinced that building a working conversation with the Taliban, which is currently Afghanistan’s dominant internal political force and has no alternative, aligns with our region’s security interests, the region’s economic development as well as the goals of intra-Afghan national reconciliation toward which we constantly steer the current leadership in Kabul," Lavrov said.
The top Russian diplomat stressed that while certain conditions remain unfulfilled, Moscow cannot consider officially recognizing the government of the Taliban movement. "As I have already stated, these obligations include forming an ethnically and politically balanced government, stepping up measures to fight terrorism and drug trafficking and ensuring the basic human rights of all peoples inhabiting Afghanistan, including Tajiks. In our quite regular interaction with Taliban representatives, we encourage them to expedite resolving these issues, which the whole world knows about," he added.
Earlier on Tuesday, Lavrov held talks with his Tajik counterpart Sirojiddin Muhriddin and met with the country’s President Emomali Rahmon.