KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – A Taliban delegation, led by Amir Khan Muttaqi, the regime’s Foreign Minister, has traveled to Moscow, Russia, to attend the sixth Moscow Format meeting.
In a post on X (formerly known as Twitter) today, Hafiz Zia Ahmad, the deputy spokesperson for the Taliban Ministry of Foreign Affairs, stated that Muttaqi will also meet Sergey Lavrov, the Russian Foreign Minister, in a sideline meeting.
The sixth Moscow Format meeting is scheduled to take place on Friday, October 4, in Moscow. The Taliban delegation is attending the meeting at the official invitation of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The Moscow Format meeting is a regional diplomatic initiative established in December 2016, bringing together countries like Russia, Iran, Pakistan, China, India, and Central Asian republics to discuss Afghanistan-related issues.
Since its establishment, there have been several rounds of discussions. Since 2021, following the Taliban’s return to power in Afghanistan, the group has been participating in the meetings on behalf of Afghanistan.
In its first meeting involving the Taliban, representatives from other countries urged the Taliban authorities to improve their governance style and establish “a truly inclusive government that adequately represents the interests of all major ethnopolitical groups in the country,” a demand that has yet to be fulfilled.
Since the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan, no country has officially recognized them as the legitimate government. However, many neighboring and regional countries, despite security concerns, have maintained relations with the regime.
While Russia has engaged with the Taliban, it has yet to formally recognize their government or remove the designation of the group as a terrorist organization. However, Russia has kept its embassy in Kabul open and transferred the Afghan embassy in Moscow to Taliban diplomats.
In a recent step toward normalizing relations with the Taliban, Russia announced that it is considering removing the group from its list of designated terrorist organizations.
Last month, the Taliban authorities requested Russia to invite them to the upcoming BRICS summit, a gathering of major emerging economies, including China, India, Brazil and South Africa, scheduled for October 22-24 in Kazan, Russia.
The Taliban’s request to participate in the BRICS summit has yet to be accepted. However, BRICS members are currently considering the request, and the international community is closely monitoring the situation, especially as the summit is expected to address key economic and geopolitical issues.
