Zamir Kabulov, the Special Representative of the President of the Russian Federation for Afghanistan, who is on a visit to Kabul, has met with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Emirate Mawlavi Amir Khan Muttaqi for talks on political and economic issues between Afghanistan and Russia.

Regional issues were also discussed.

Muttaqi expressed appreciation for Russia’s support at regional and international meetings and emphasized the need to further strengthen political ties and trade relations between the two countries.

He also said that Afghanistan’s relations with countries in the region are flourishing and currently Afghanistan has active embassies in all neighboring countries.

Muttaqi called Afghanistan’s relations with Russia important and said the current ground realities of Afghanistan should be understood and that there is no reason why the United Nations needs to appoint a special representative to deal with Afghanistan.

He said the Afghan government is in talks with the UN over this issue and will make public its position after sufficient clarification has been provided on the agenda and composition of the next UN meeting in Doha.

Kabulov in turn stressed that any meeting held on Afghanistan should be convened with the approval of the Afghan government.

He said it is important for the United Nations to have the Afghan government approve and attend the next Doha meeting.

He said this series of meetings will not yield positive results without the Afghan government being in agreement.

He also said governments of the world should maintain relations with the Afghan government through bilateral mechanisms instead of multilateral contact mechanisms.

Kabulov emphasized that the US should release Afghanistan’s frozen assets and end its unilateral and “illegal” restrictions on the country’s banking system.

He also said Russia and Afghanistan need to improve coordination between them and went on to say he hoped Muttaqi would visit Moscow during the course of this year.

Kabulov also met with acting Minister of Interior Affairs Sirajuddin Haqqani.

This meeting focused on bilateral relations between both countries while political and security issues pertaining to the region were also discussed, the ministry said.