Next Moscow Talks On Afghanistan Needed Urgently Amid Unstable Security -Pakistan Official

Mohammad Ali (@ChaudhryMAli88) Published November 10, 2018 | 12:06 PM

The unstable security situation in Afghanistan calls for the third round of the Afghan settlement talks in the Moscow format to be conducted as soon as possible, Muhemmed Aejaz, the additional secretary for Afghanistan and West Asia at the Pakistan Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told Sputnik.

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 10th November, 2018) The unstable security situation in Afghanistan calls for the third round of the Afghan settlement talks in the Moscow format to be conducted as soon as possible, Muhemmed Aejaz, the additional secretary for Afghanistan and West Asia at the Pakistan Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told Sputnik.

Earlier in the day, Moscow hosted the second round of the Afghan peace talks that brought to the negotiating table the Afghan High Peace Council and the political office of the Taliban in Doha. Representatives from China, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan also joined the meeting.

"[The Moscow format talks] will happen. There is also an agreement that we should not lose too much time. The security situation in Afghanistan is not very good ... There is a need to have urgent action. There is consensus it has to happen, it has to happen quickly," Aejaz, who represented Pakistan at Friday's consultations, said.

According to the official, it is up to the Russian Foreign Ministry to decide on the time and venue for the next round of talks.

"But I am very sure that having achieved this breakthrough today, the next meeting hopefully will happen at a time with a certain objective that will be as strong or as important as in this meeting in which I think the breakthrough has been the presence of both the High Peace Council, the Afghan delegation, and the Taliban Qatar office delegation," Aejaz said.

Aejaz stated that Pakistan had been invited to participate in the next round of talks.

The first round of consultations took place in mid-April last year, and was attended by deputy foreign ministers and special representatives of 11 countries interested in achieving peace in Afghanistan.