Pakistan to 'participate in Moscow meeting' on Afghan crises

MOSCOW: A meeting on Afghanistan between the secretaries of the security councils of Central Asian countries — including Pakistan, India and China — will be held in Moscow next week, Russian Special Presidential Envoy for Afghanistan, Director of the Foreign Ministry's Second Asian Department Zamir Kabulov told TASS on Friday.

"Yes, that’s true," he said replying to a question on the matter. 

"There will be regional participants, the secretaries of the security councils of countries in the region are invited — our Central Asian partners, as well as Pakistan, India and China," the diplomat explained.

On May 27, 2022, a fourth round of multilateral consultations on Afghanistan between top security officials was held in Dushanbe.

It should be noted that under the US withdrawal deal signed by the Trump administration in the year 2020, the US army withdrew from Afghanistan in August 2021 and the Taliban took control of Kabul.

After the US departure, all the regional countries became active to stabilise Afghanistan and prevent its land to to be used for terrorism — which haunted the neighbouring countries for decades. 

The regional countries believe that the power vacuum left by the US may be a lucrative opportunity for the other non-state actors and terror organisations to launch their activities and globalise their operations — which also threatens regional peace and security. 

It may also be noted that the prevalent economic and social crises in Afghanistan have caused their people to flee to the neighbouring countries.

The US also froze the overseas assets of Afghanistan further exacerbating the economic instability. The regional countries are actively attempting together to create a peaceful and stable Afghanistan to prevent any disorder in the region by providing humanitarian and constantly urging the Taliban to crack down on the terror groups.