MOSCOW, June 10. /TASS/. Russian Foreign Ministry’s official spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has said there is little hope for direct contacts between Afghan government and Taliban movement.

"The military-political situation in Afghanistan remains tense," Zakharova told a briefing on Friday. "Despite operations that are regularly carried out by Afghan security forces, the Taliban continue their military activities," she added.

"The number of armed attacks and terrorist attacks carried out by extremist groups across Afghanistan does not decrease. In the north of Kunduz province, militants took hostage over 200 passengers of regular service buses. They later released most hostages but 12 people were killed. On June 5 Shir Wali Wardak, a member of Afghanistan’s National Assembly, died in an attack by unknown persons in Kabul, and 11 more people were injured. Militants from the Taliban movement also attacked a court in the Afghan province of Logar to the south of Kabul, seven people were killed in the attack," Zakharova said.

Against this backdrop, "attempts of the four-party contact group (US, China, Pakistan, Afghanistan) to prompt the Taliban movement to reconcile with Kabul, remain without results," she noted. "Unfortunately, there is little hope that direct contacts between Afghan government and Taliban movement will be established in the nearest time," she concluded.