Central Asian Countries Discuss Situation In Afghanistan - Turkmen Foreign Ministry

ASHGABAT (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 07th July, 2021) The top diplomats of Central Asian countries have discussed online the situation in Afghanistan, the Turkmen Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday.

"On July 7, a ministerial meeting on the Afghan issues was held with the participation of the heads of external policy agencies of the countries of Central Asia through videoconferencing. The organizers of the dialogue were the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and the UN Regional Center for Preventive Diplomacy for Central Asia," the statement read.

The foreign ministers of Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, as well as UN representatives, took part in the meeting, the statement specified.

According to the Turkmen ministry, the parties discussed regional cooperation, advancement of the peace process in Afghanistan, and security issues.

Turkmen Foreign Minister Rashid Meredov said that it is necessary to provide political, social and economic support to reach a "favorable" development of the Afghan peace process.

Afghanistan is seeing a spike in violence as international troops are gradually being withdrawn from the country. The troop pullout was one of the points in the agreement the Taliban and the United States reached in Doha in February of last year.

In recent days, thousands of Afghan government soldiers have fled to Tajikistan, escaping from the Taliban, which took over 70% of the Afghan-Tajik border under its control. Uzbekistan has refused to accept Afghan soldiers trying to cross borders.