Afghan Talks In Moscow May Speed Up Return Of Refugees From Pakistan - Diplomat

The Moscow talks on Afghan peace can expedite the return of Afghan refugees from Pakistan, Muhemmed Aejaz, additional secretary for Afghanistan and West Asia at the Pakistan Foreign Ministry, told Sputnik.

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 10th November, 2018) The Moscow talks on Afghan peace can expedite the return of Afghan refugees from Pakistan, Muhemmed Aejaz, additional secretary for Afghanistan and West Asia at the Pakistan Foreign Ministry, told Sputnik.

"I believe that as the process [Moscow format talks] moves forward all issues will be upcoming, including the issue of refugees," he said.

Aejaz led the Pakistani delegation at the second round of Moscow format talks between the Qatar-based Taliban political office and the Afghan High Peace Council, assisted by diplomats and monitors from Russia, China, Iran, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and the United States.

"I believe that refugees is one huge issue for regional countries, especially for Pakistan which has the largest number of refugees in the world for almost four decades now. On average I would say Pakistan has hosted at any time around three million refugees, at any point in time in the last 40 years," Aejaz said.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said participants had agreed to meet again. Iranian Foreign Ministry's Director General for West Asia Rasoul Eslami told Sputnik the third round of talks could be called in the near future.