Thomas West, the US special representative for Afghanistan affairs, met with Uzbekistan officials to discuss issues around Afghanistan.

In a post on X on Sunday, West stated that he had a discussion with Abdulaziz Khafizovich Kamilov, Deputy Chairman of the National Security Council of Uzbekistan, and Ismatullah Irgashev, the country’s special representative, about Afghanistan.

He added that during this meeting, he discussed many common interests and the way forward in Afghanistan.

According to him, this meeting was held in Washington.

This comes ahead of the June 30 Doha meeting which will see special representatives of various countries come together for the third time to discuss the situation in Afghanistan.

The Doha meeting will be hosted by the United Nations

Last week the Islamic Emirate issued a statement on the meeting and said the acting Minister of Foreign Affairs Amir Khan Muttaqi met with the UN Secretary General’s special representative for Afghanistan, Roza Otunbayeva, and the two sides discussed the upcoming Doha meeting.

According to the statement, the UN envoy said her team is working on the meeting’s agenda and seeks to prepare the agenda in such a way that is acceptable to all parties.

She added that she wants to hear the Islamic Emirate’s opinion on the final agenda of the Doha meeting, and once the agenda is finalized, official invitations will be sent to the participants of the meeting.

Muttaqi emphasized that it is important to prepare the agenda in a way that is acceptable to all parties.

He added that the IEA government has shared its position on the third Doha meeting with all parties and is working closely with the stakeholders in this matter.

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Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) that work on the possible removal of the Islamic Emirate from Moscow’s terrorist list is based on the need for contact with Afghanistan.

Speaking to TASS she said some media has reacted “nervously to the fact that Russia maintains contacts with the Taliban (IEA) movement.”

“Apparently, those who write about these issues do not realize that the solution to such problems as the fight against drug trafficking, terrorism and organized crime actually requires contacts. And it is in our interest to respond to changes pragmatically, in line with attitudes focused on national interests,” she said.

“Now the question, which is also of great interest to everyone, is when, how and in what form the decisions on the so-called delisting will be adopted or developed. This is interdepartmental work.

“It involves experts from different areas. But it is based on the basic principle of the need to solve the problems created or exacerbated by the Americans inside Afghanistan, and to which, of course, an answer must be given both inside Afghanistan and by the countries of the region, but also by all other countries of the world,” she said.

Moscow must build up relations with Islamic Emirate government – Vladimir Putin

Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin called for Moscow to “build up” relations with the Islamic Emirate government.

Speaking to senior editors of foreign news agencies on the sidelines of the St Petersburg International Economic Forum, Putin said: “We have always believed that we need to deal with reality. The Taliban are in power in Afghanistan… We have to build up relations with the Taliban government.”

Putin’s comments also followed those of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov who also said last week that Moscow planned to take the Islamic Emirate off its list of banned terrorist organizations.

“They are the real power” in Afghanistan, Lavrov said.

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Dawood Masoomi, the deputy of Iran’s National Migration Organization, says that launching psychological operations against Afghan nationals in Iran is the work of enemies.

He accuses Israel of trying to create division between the people of Afghanistan and Iran, adding that people should be careful.

Speaking at a gathering in the city of Karaj, in Iran, Masoomi asked the people to be more careful about conspiracies.

“Israel is trying to create division between the people of Iran and Afghanistan. Today, we should all be careful not to be deceived by the enemy’s intrigues and not to throw water into the enemy’s mill because the enemy seeks to divide and create two factions in the country so that they can achieve their evil goals,” he said.

At the same time, Iran’s Deeds and Properties Registration Organization (IDPRO) has announced an increase in investment by Afghans in the country.

Safdar Keshavarz, the spokesman of IDPRO, told Iranian media that more than 50 percent of foreign companies in Iran are owned by Afghans, which have registered to take over property.