Russia link, Chinalink, Pakistanlink and the United States are workingtogether to ensure that Afghanistan’s Talibanlink rulers keep their promises,especially to form a genuinely representative government and preventextremism from spreading, Russia’s foreign minister said.
FM Sergey Lavrov said the four countries are in ongoing contact. He saidrepresentatives from Russia link, Pakistanlink and Chinalink recently travelled to Qatar and then toAfghanistan’s capital, Kabul, to engage with both the Talibanlink representatives of “secularauthorities” — former president Hamid Karzai and Abdullah Abdullah, whoheaded the ousted government’s negotiating council with the Talibanlink.
Lavrov said the interim government announced by the Talibanlink does not reflect “the whole gamut ofAfghan society — ethno-religious and political forces — so we are engagingin contacts. They are ongoing.”
The Taliban link have promised aninclusive government, a more moderate form of Islamic rule than when theylast ruled the country from 1996 to 2001 including respecting women’srights, providing stability after 20 years of war, fighting terrorism andextremism and stopping militants from using their territory to launchattacks. But recent moves suggest they may be returning to more repressivepolicies, particularly toward women and girls.
“What’s most important … is to ensure that the promises that they haveproclaimed publicly to be kept,” Lavrov said. “And for uslink, that is the top priority.”
At a wide-ranging news conference and in his speech afterward at the U.N.General Assembly, Lavrov criticized the Biden administration including forits hasty withdrawal from Afghanistan.
He said the US link and NATO pullout “wascarried out without any consideration of the consequences … that thereare many weapons left in Afghanistan.” It remains critical, he said, thatsuch weapons aren’t used for “destructive purposes.”
Later, in his assembly speech, Lavrov accused the United States and itsWestern allies of “persistent attempts to diminish the UN’s role inresolving the key problems of today or to sideline it or to make it amalleable tool for promoting someone’s selfish interests.”
As examples, Lavrov said Germany and France recently announced the creationof an Alliance For Multilateralism “even though what kind of structurecould be more multilateral than the United Nations?”
The United States is also sidestepping the UN, he said, pointing to therecent US link announcement of a “Summit forDemocracy” despite, Lavrov said, US linkJoe Biden’s pledge this week “that the US link isnot seeking a world divided into opposing blocs.”
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“It goes without saying that Washington is going to choose the participantsby itself, thus hijacking the right to decide to what degree a countrymeets the standards of democracy,” Lavrov said. “Essentially, thisinitiative is quite in the spirit of a Cold War, as it declares a newideological crusade against all dissenters.”
Lavrov was asked for Russia’s reaction to UN Secretary-General AntonioGuterres’ warning last week that the world could be plunged into a new ColdWar potentially more dangerous than the lengthy one between the USlink and the former Soviet Union unless theUnited States and China link repair their“totally dysfunctional” relationship.
He replied: “Of course, we see the tension tightening in relations betweenChina link and the United States.” Heexpressed “great concern” at the rising tensions, pointing to the Bidenadministration’s recently proclaimed Indo-Pacific strategy — whoseobjectives, he said, include “deterring China’s development,” disputes overthe South China link Sea, and the recentUS-Britain deal to provide nuclear-powered submarines to Australia.
More broadly, Lavrov said, relations among the big powers must be“respectful.” He emphasized that Russialink was“keen to ensure that never will these relations morph into nuclear war.”
The major powers have a “great responsibility,” he said, to negotiate andmake compromises on the critical issues facing the world and that Russialink now “revitalizing” its proposal fora summit of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council — Russialink, Chinalink, US link,UK and France. He said discussions are under way on specific questions foran agenda, and “we may perhaps begin with an online meeting.”
On other global issues, the United States has been pressing for Iran toresume nuclear negotiations, but Lavrov said it was then-President DonaldTrump who pulled the U.S. out of the nuclear agreement, so to declare that“time is running out, anybody could say this — but not Washington.”
In his first speech to the General Assembly earlier this week, new IranianPresident Ebrahim Raisi criticized the United States but appeared not torule out a return to the negotiating table for the nuclear accord, sayingIran considers talks useful if their ultimate outcome is the lifting of allsanctions. Still, he stated: “We don’t trust the promises made by the USlink government.”
Lavrov said Russia link would like to seethe resumption of negotiations to restore the original agreement as soon aspossible. “We have a very serious hope — and I think this is well-foundedoptimism — that we will achieve results,” he said, because “this issomething everybody wants.”
