Foreign Ministers of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) will meet Oct. 9 in Tajikistan, which holds the rotating CIS presidency this year. Representatives of the nine nations in the CIS group, formed in 1991, can be expected to approve several draft joint statements, following their deliberation, which will cover international and regional matters, from economics to security. Approved documents will then go on for further consideration by the CIS Council of Heads of State and individual member governments.
On Oct. 7 in Moscow, the seventh meeting takes place of envoys of nations participating in the seventh meeting of the Moscow Format for Consideration of Afghanistan. The list of countries traditionally participating—neighbors of Afghanistan, plus Russia and India, this year also includes Belarus. The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan will be participating in the Moscow Format meeting for the first time. Russia is the first nation to formally recognize the I.E.A. government. (China and a few other nations have ambassadors.)
Afghanistan will be represented by its Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi, who will also meet on the sidelines with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. Muttaqi will then proceed to New Delhi, visiting over Oct. 9-16. This is the first time the Afghan government has sent a representative to India since the August 2021 exit of U.S. and NATO forces from Afghanistan. Muttaqi, sanctioned by the United Nations, received UN approval for his visit to India.
Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov will open the Moscow meeting, which will take up “promoting Afghan national reconciliation, and expanding practical cooperation between regional states and Kabul in the political, economic, counter-terroism, and anti-drug fields,” said Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on Oct. 2.
