Second round of regional meeting on Afghanistan held in Tehran

The second meeting of the Regional Contact Group for Afghanistan, known as the Moscow Format, was held on Saturday in Tehran, the capital of Iran.

Iranian media reported that the representatives of Iran, Russia, China and Pakistan attended the meeting.

At the meeting, the Director-General of the South Asia Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Iran Seyyed Rasoul Mousavi said that the countries of the region play a constructive role in ensuring the peace, stability, and development of Afghanistan.

Mousavi added that in regional meetings, in addition to recalling the problems, solutions and ways to get out of these issues should also be considered.

Despite the invitation, the Islamic Emirate did not participate in the meeting.

Zakir Jalaly, Director of the Third Political Division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Afghanistan, said that the IEA declined the invitation to a regional meeting.

Jalaly said in a post on X that the Afghan government declined the invitation to the meeting. He said that the Afghan government expects that meetings on Afghanistan should be held through the existing mechanisms, not new ones.

Meanwhile, Mumtaz Zahra Baloch, the spokesperson for Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said in a press conference in Islamabad that the second meeting of the contact group hosted by Iran is important to ensure peace, security and stability in the region.

Zahra Baloch added that Pakistan’s Special Representative for Afghanistan Asif Ali Khan Durrani participated in this meeting.

“Pakistan believes that the role of the regional contact group is very important for Afghanistan and provides an opportunity to strengthen regional cooperation. Consultations at the regional contact group level ensure that Afghanistan does not become a center for terrorist activities, and at the same time, the neighboring countries support Afghanistan’s efforts for the welfare and economic improvement of their people,” she said.

Earlier, Russia’s special envoy for Afghanistan Zamir Kabulov said that the agenda of the third Doha meeting will also be discussed at the meeting of the contact group in Tehran.

The Moscow Format meeting is being held in Tehran while the representatives of twenty-five countries and some envoys of international organizations and institutions are scheduled to meet in Doha on June 30 and July 1 to discuss the situation in Afghanistan.