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Afghan problems can’t be resolved without international community — Russian envoy

The Taliban have stated that they want to cooperate with other countries, they prioritize Russia, China and Pakistan, Dmitry Zhirnov noted

KABUL, November 18. /TASS/. Afghan problems cannot be resolved without the support of the international community, Russian Ambassador to Afghanistan Dmitry Zhirnov said on Thursday.

"The Taliban have stated that they want to cooperate with the international community: they prioritize Russia, China and Pakistan. We are now making an emphasis on the need to avert a humanitarian disaster in Afghanistan," the Russian envoy said.

"The next stage will be to mobilize international donors for the purpose of the country’s economic recovery. Without this, it will be impossible to cope with such Afghan problems as refugees, terrorism and drugs," he pointed out.

The Taliban radical militant group (outlawed in Russia) launched a large-scale offensive to seize control of Afghanistan after the United States declared its intention in the spring of this year to withdraw its troops from the country.

On August 15, the Taliban entered Kabul without encountering any resistance while Afghan President Ashraf Ghani stepped down and fled the country. The Taliban declared on September 6 that they had established control of the entire Afghan territory and on September 7 they announced an interim government in Afghanistan that has not been recognized by any country so far.

A report published by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the UN World Food Program (WFP) in late October indicates that more than half the population of Afghanistan (22.8 million out of about 39 million, according to the World Bank data) will face crisis or emergency levels of acute food insecurity from November 2021 to March 2022.

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