MOSCOW, July 20. /TASS/. Afghanistan will split into many parts, while terrorist groups will grow in strength if a military scenario is pursued in the country, Russia’s Special Presidential Envoy for Afghanistan Zamir Kabulov said on Tuesday.

"If a military scenario of developments in Afghanistan prevails over the process of national reconciliation, <…> a war of everyone against everyone will begin. It will lead to a collapse of Afghanistan over ethnical and political characteristics and not just two or three parts but many more. And a favorable situation for international terrorist forces to gain strength will be created. And it’s not just ISIS [outlawed in Russia], two or three more of similar organizations will emerge," he told an online discussion at the Valdai International Discussion Club.

Kabulov underlined that Afghan politicians should take a consolidated stance. "Afghan politicians, including the president, who understands perfectly well the scale of his responsibility for the fates [of people] of not only his country but also the whole region, should take a unified national position," he said. "It is of course not up to me to decide, how Afghans should live in the future, but I am convinced that as long as the country is in the state of a civil war <…> it needs a centralized leadership, while all other options can be considered when there’s no war."

Last week, Doha hosted two-day negotiations between representatives of the Afghan leadership and the Taliban (outlawed in Russia). Following these talks, the sides adopted a brief statement on their plans to continue high-level peace talks. Head of the government delegation Abdullah Abdullah, who is also Chairman of the High Council for National Reconciliation, vowed that the Afghan government was committed to peaceful settlement of the conflict. Afghan observers note, however, that the final statement says nothing either about reduction of combat intensity or about a truce.