Russia, India can help in reviving intra-Afghan dialogue: Kabulov

Russia and India can play a role in reviving the “intra-Afghan dialogue” if the the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) requests such assistance, Russian Special Representative for Afghanistan Zamir Kabulov has said.

“I hope that the Taliban (IEA) will learn from the mistakes made by the former President [Ghani] and from its previous experience in 1996-2001. How to find a solution – through broadly representative intra-Afghan consultations, a Loya Jirga or something else – is up to the Afghan people themselves to decide. Russia is ready to provide necessary assistance in this regard if such a signal comes from Kabul. We are convinced that India’s role in it will also be required,” Kabulov said in an interview with Indian newspaper The Hindu.

Kabulov gave a broad impression of Russia’s position regarding the IEA and said, “The objective reality is that the Taliban controls almost all the territory of Afghanistan. An interim government has been formed, and it is functioning.”

From the Russian point of view, the forces that are opposing the Taliban “are not competitive,” he stated.

Kabulov said the IEA’s counter-terror measures are “insufficient” but they deserve “tribute” and that the regional countries are willing to help the IEA defeat the security threats.

“We see that the Taliban (IEA) forces are doing a serious job to fight the ISIS and other terrorist groups in the country, although they are still far from solving the problem as a whole,” said Kabulov, adding, “it is worth paying tribute to the counter-terrorism measures taken by the Taliban (IEA) government, but we believe them to be insufficient.”

He also said it is not correct for the United Nations to allow the representative of the previous Afghan government to continue to occupy the chair of the Permanent Representative of Afghanistan at the United Nations.