Moscow today hosted a meeting of the Extended Troika—Russia, Pakistan, and China. The U.S. is also part of this grouping, but State Department spokesman Ned Price explained yesterday that the U.S. would not be attending today’s meeting, or tomorrow’s larger meeting of the Moscow Format grouping of ten countries, including representatives of the Taliban, because it was not logistically possible this week. But, going forward, he said, the U.S. would “look forward to engaging in that forum.”
A short statement issued by the Russian Foreign Ministry following today’s meeting of the Extended Troika, reported that “on October 19, a meeting of the special representatives of the Russian Federation, China and Pakistan for Afghanistan took place in Moscow. The participants exchanged views on common security threats, and expressed joint interest in providing Afghanistan with urgent humanitarian and economic assistance.”
Interestingly, in a separate statement, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov explained that the newly-named U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan, Thomas West, could not take part in the meeting because he had just been named to that post yesterday, replacing the outgoing envoy Zalmay Khalilzad, TASS reported. Lavrov reported that West had immediately called Russia’s Special Representative for Afghanistan, Foreign Ministry official Zamir Kabulov, and indicated that he wanted to establish contact with him and visit Russia. “We will be glad to see him,” Lavrov said.
Tomorrow’s meeting of the Moscow Format includes a high-ranking Taliban delegation, including Acting Deputy Prime Minister Mawlawi Abdul Salam Hanafi, and Acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi, as well as several other acting ministers. This morning, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that among the topics to be discussed at the Moscow Format conference are Afghanistan’s political-military situation and steps that must be taken to avoid a humanitarian crisis. Lavrov will address the meeting, and a final statement will be issued at its conclusion.
