Russia is pulling together a meeting of the “Extended Troika,” first established in 2019, of China, the United States and Russia—the “troika"—plus Pakistan, to deliberate on Afghanistan. (This is separate from the “Moscow Format” of talks for creating conditions for national reconciliation in Afghanistan, which Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov referenced in Tashkent in July.) The meeting will take place in Qatar on Aug. 11. Pakistan emphasized to the United States the importance of the U.S.’s participation. Moeed Yusuf, Special Assistant to the Pakistani Prime Minister for National Security, and Lt. Gen. Faiz Hameed, Director General of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), met with U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, and stated that they would participate in the attempt for a peaceful settlement. They emphasized that they wanted the U.S. to remain engaged in a political settlement.
China’s Foreign Minister and State Councillor Wang Yi, at the July 14 SCO Foreign Ministers’ meeting, had urged the Shanghai Cooperation Organization countries to weigh in on the U.S., to keep them engaged in a peaceful settlement. Pakistan’s daily Express Tribune explained on Aug. 2: “The worry in Pakistan is that the U.S. may abandon Afghanistan altogether leaving regional countries to face the blowback of a potential civil war in Afghanistan. It is because of this reason that Pakistan has been working with regional countries including Russia and China to prevent the civil war in Afghanistan.”
