Moscow, Sep 29 (EFE).- The Taliban government, on Friday during a summit in Russia, called on regional countries to refrain from proposing alternative governance models for Afghanistan and instead support the current administration in rebuilding the war-ravaged country.
“We hope that our neighbors will refrain from proposing governance models, and will instead focus on supporting the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan across all sectors so that we can develop our cooperation,” Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi said during the fifth meeting of the “Moscow Format” consultations on Afghanistan, held in the Russian city of Kazan.
He insisted that all foreign-imposed political governance models in Afghanistan over the past four decades had proven “ineffective.”
“Over the past 45 years, not a single external model of governance in Afghanistan, including an inclusive government, has solved the problems of our country,” Muttaqi said, as quoted by Russian state news agency TASS.
Responding to the growing domestic and international calls for the formation of an inclusive government, the foreign minister urged that Afghanistan’s previous government (2002-2021), despite its inclusivity and democratic nature, had failed to achieve significant progress.
“The so-called inclusive government that existed in Afghanistan did not achieve success, despite the support of the countries of the region and the West,” he added.
The creation of an ethnically and politically inclusive government in Afghanistan remains a key topic on the agenda of the ongoing Moscow Format summit, attended by representatives from Russia, Afghanistan, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, China, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.
Prior to the meeting, Russia’s special envoy for Afghanistan, Zamir Kabulov, acknowledged that there had been “no progress” in the efforts to establish an inclusive government in Afghanistan.
He reiterated that Russia would not officially recognize the Taliban government unless it fulfilled “internationally recognized obligations,” specifically regarding the inclusivity of governing bodies, both ethnic and political.
The lack of progress by the Taliban in forming an inclusive government, upholding women’s rights, and adhering to international conventions has been the main obstacle to their government gaining recognition from the international community.
The “Moscow format” consultation platform was established in 2017 with the aim of promoting national reconciliation in Afghanistan and has so far held five rounds of talks. EFE
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