Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov asked the international community to financially support the Taliban regime in Afghanistan on a humanitarian basis at a conference on that war-torn nation Wednesday in Moscow.
''We are convinced that it is time to mobilize the resources of the international community to provide Kabul with effective financial humanitarian support, including to prevent a humanitarian crisis and reduce migration flows,'' Lavrov said, while also calling on the Taliban to ban terrorists from launching attacks from there, according to a Breitbart report.
''We call on the Taliban movement — and we discussed this with their distinguished delegation — to prevent the use of Afghanistan's territory against third countries, most importantly neighbors,'' he said.
The conference comes almost two months after the withdrawal of U.S. troops on Aug. 31 after 20 years of war in Afghanistan.
Citing ''logistical reasons,'' the United States did not send a delegation to the talks.
"We will not participate in the Moscow talks. The Troika-plus has been an effective, a constructive forum. We look forward to engaging in that forum going forward, but we're not in a position to take part this week," State Department spokesperson Ned Price said. In a Reuters report Oct. 18. "It has been effective in the past, it's just logistically difficult for us to take part this week."
According to U.S. News and World Report, Lavrov expressed his ''regret'' over the United States' absence from the forum.
Delegations from Pakistan, China, Iran and India also participated in the discussions.
According to the Breitbart report, the talks come just two days after Russia and Tajikistan conducted joint military maneuvers and drills with an estimated 5,000 troops along the Afghan border.
Tajikistan is hosting 15,000 Afghan refugees who fled the country during the U.S. withdrawal and subsequent takeover by the Taliban on Aug. 14.
Pakistan, India and China are concerned that the current unstable situation could mean more refugees seeking haven in those countries, including Muslim militants who could cause problems in those countries.
Lavrov said that he was satisfied that the Taliban is keeping Russian nationals still in Afghanistan safe, as they maintain their embassy there, and he praised the delegation for its efforts to ''stabilize the military and political situation'' in the country.
While Russia is hosting the talks, it still considers the Taliban a terrorist organization, and has not yet recognized it as the government of Afghanistan.
''What Russia wants to show is that it does have a solid working relationship with the new authorities in Afghanistan. It's a way of flattering them, giving them legitimacy without recognizing them,'' Samuel Ramani of the Royal United Services Institute in London told The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday.
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