Foreign Ministers Of Afghanistan's Neighboring Countries To Meet On April 13 - Tashkent

A meeting of the foreign ministers of Afghanistan's neighboring countries will be held in Samarkand on April 13, the Uzbek Foreign Ministry said on Thursday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 06th April, 2023) A meeting of the foreign ministers of Afghanistan's neighboring countries will be held in Samarkand on April 13, the Uzbek Foreign Ministry said on Thursday.

"On April 13, 2023, Samarkand will host the Meeting of the Foreign Ministers of Afghanistan's Neighboring Countries. The foreign ministers of Uzbekistan, China, Iran, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan will review the current situation in Afghanistan," the statement said.

Samarkand will also host a meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Commonwealth of Independent States, and the Sixth Meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the Central Asian countries and Russia on April 14.

"On April 14, 2023, a meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Commonwealth of Independent States is expected to be held in Samarkand with the participation of delegations from Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and the CIS Executive Committee," the statement read.

An exchange of views on the the international agenda and cooperation within the CIS, as well as the implementation of joint programs is expected to be on the meeting's agenda.

An interim Afghan government led by the Taliban (under UN sanctions for terrorism) came to power in the fall of 2021 after the withdrawal of US troops from the country and the collapse of the US-backed government. The Taliban takeover has heightened the fears of the Central Asian nations concerning the spread of radical fundamental Islamic ideas, as happened in 1996 when the Taliban first came to power in Afghanistan for five years.