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Middle East and North Africa

Kabul fully trusts Russia in its contacts with the Taliban, says top diplomat

Afghan Foreign Minister Haneef Atmar noted that the aims of both Russia and Afghanistan were achievement of peace and the fight against international terrorism

MOSCOW, August 12./TASS/. Kabul fully trusts the Russian side in its contacts with the Taliban movement (outlawed in Russia), Afghan Foreign Minister Haneef Atmar said in a live broadcast of the Ekho Moskvy radio station on Thursday.

"We have quite friendly relations with the Russian side, and our friends in the Russian leadership provide us with this information [about talks of the Russian Federation and the delegation of the Taliban]. We have no need in getting such information from other sources or through other channels," the foreign minister said.

"We trust each other, we fully trust the Russian side and we believe that the aims of our nations are the same - achievement of peace and the fight against international terrorism," Haneef Atmar stressed.

The minister said that Kabul supports Taliban delegation’s visits to Russia in case they have peaceful aims. "If the Taliban delegation visits Moscow with the aim of peace initiatives, we always support this. We see as very useful and being in line with the goals of achieving peace the meetings and session that have taken place in Moscow, whether in the Moscow format of consultations on Afghanistan or sessions of the intra-Afghan meetings," Atmar added.

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Middle East and North Africa

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