Russian Representative: Tajikistan is against the presence of the Taliban in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization

Bayan News – Zamir Kabulov, Russia’s special representative for Afghanistan, has recently stated that Tajikistan is opposed to the Taliban’s participation in the meetings of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the resumption of the organization’s contact group’s activities with Afghanistan.

Russia’s special representative said on Saturday (June 15) in an interview with the Ria Novosti news network that the issue of resuming the Shanghai Cooperation Organization’s contact group with Afghanistan was discussed at the latest meeting of the organization’s Council of Foreign Ministers.

According to Kabulov, most of the foreign ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization member countries agreed at the latest meeting of the organization, which was held on May 20-21, to resume the work of the organization’s contact group with Afghanistan.

Mr. Kabulov said: “There are doubts among our Tajik partners, but we hope that they will soften their position in the near future.”

It is worth noting that the fourth meeting of the Afghanistan Contact Group within the framework of the Shanghai Organization will be held in Tajikistan.

The first meeting of this group was held on July 14, 2021 in Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan, with the participation of Mohammad Hanif Atmar, the former Foreign Minister of the Afghan government.

China, Russia, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan are permanent members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, and Belarus and Mongolia are currently observer members.

Before the Taliban’s takeover, Afghanistan participated as an observer member in the meetings of this organization, but since the Taliban’s control of the country, no representative from Afghanistan has been invited to the organization’s meetings.

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