MOSCOW, July 20. /TASS/: Russia and its allies are capable of neutralizing any threats posed by Islamic extremists, Russian Special Presidential Envoy for Afghanistan and Director of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Second Asian Department Zamir Kabulov said at an online discussion of the Valdai international discussion club.
"We can say that it (the threat of Islamic extremism — TASS) is not acute for the simple reason that Russia today is different from the Russia of 20 years ago. We are stronger and more confident in ourselves. Together with our allies and partners, we can neutralize any threats," he said.
"Probably, without exaggeration, everything that we call the world community, has one point of view, at least verbally, that this should no longer be allowed," Kabulov added.
On April 4, US President Joe Biden announced his decision to end the operation in Afghanistan, which became the longest overseas military campaign in American history. Against this background, the deterioration of the security situation has been seen due to the fact that the Taliban group (outlawed in Russia) is stepping up the pace of its offensive on a number of fronts. According to the Taliban, they have been able to gain control of about 85% of the republic’s territory, including areas located along the border with Iran, China, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan.
Last week, a high-level Afghan delegation and Taliban representatives had a two-day meeting in Doha. The parties approved a brief statement on their intention to continue the talks following the meeting. Head of the official delegation Abdullah Abdullah who is also the Chairman of the High Council for National Reconciliation assured the meeting’s participants that the Afghan government was committed to a political settlement of the conflict. At the same time, Afghan observers note that the final statement made no mention of a decrease in the intensity of hostilities or an armistice.
