AtPrivate owners of the “Twenty” held a summit dedicated to Afghanistan. The result of the meeting, which was not attended by the top officials of Russia and China, was the decision to increase humanitarian aid to the country, but not to recognize the Taliban regime
«The Taliban» will wait
On October 12, Italy, chairing the G20, held a summit on the problems of Afghanistan via video link. According to the Prime Minister of the Republic Mario Draghi, this is the first attempt to discuss in a multilateral format. The need to urgently provide humanitarian assistance to the country, the fight against terrorism, freedom of movement inside Afghanistan and travel outside it were discussed, they reportedthe organizers of the meeting. All its participants (the G20 unites 19 of the world’s largest economies and the European Union) agreed that it is necessary to put a barrier to the spread of terrorism in the country, ensure the rights of minorities and women, and take measures to combat the humanitarian crisis, Draghi summed up the meeting. The adoption of an agreed document based on the results of the discussion was not planned.
They also talked about the possibility of international recognition of the Taliban movement that seized power in the country on August 15 (recognized as terrorist and banned in Russia). “We have all pointed out today that, according to our estimates, I have clearly said this and many others too,”the government of the Taliban is not inclusive, and therefore recognition of this movement is not on the agendathe day »,— German Chancellor Angela Merkel said after the meeting (her words are quoted by Reuters). Earlier, both the European Union, the United States, and Russia spoke about the need to maintain contacts with representatives of the new Afghan authorities, but stressed that this does not mean recognition of their legitimacy (many representatives of the Taliban are under UN sanctions for terrorist activities).
Merkel also announced the requirement for the new Afghan authorities to allow all UN organizations to work in the country and allow them to work as they want. It follows from the White House statement following the summit that the main terrorist threat comes from the Islamic State in Khorasan (the Afghan branch of ISIS, a terrorist movement banned in Russia). It was this organization that took responsibility for the largest terrorist attacks in Afghanistan in recent times, including the August series of explosions at Kabul airport.
Russia and China are distancing themselves
A few days before the meeting, it became known that Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping would miss it. They notified in advance of their absence, but both countries were represented, and interaction with them was actively going on before the summit and will continue after, Draghi commented on their absence.
The absence of the top officials of Russia and China says first of all that Moscow and Beijing want to see the G20 focused only on economic issues, the Italian newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore concludes. “The main problem is that Western countries want to influence the process of how the Taliban governs the country, how they treat women, for example, and China and Russia adhere to a policy of non-interference,” a diplomatic source familiar with the preparations for the meeting told Reuters.
Video
The press secretary of the President of Russia Dmitry Peskov explained Putin’s absence by the fact that he was busy at talks with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, and the impossibility of Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s participation was his business trip. This was reported to the Italian side, the reason is solely in the schedule, Peskov said. As a result, Russia was represented by Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov and Special Presidential Representative for Afghanistan Zamir Kabulov.
The Taliban were not invited to the meeting, nor were representatives of Pakistan and Iran, who have their own interests in Afghanistan and border with it. However, at the initiative of Italy, a representative of Qatar was invited to the meeting, in whose capital Doha the main negotiations of the international community with the Taliban are taking place: last week the US dialogue with the Taliban resumed there, this week representatives of Germany visited Doha, and on Tuesday representatives of the European Union also held their meetings there.
The crisis is growing
The UN should deal with urgent humanitarian problems, Draghi announced at the end of the summit. On Monday, the Secretary General of this organization, Antonio Guterres, said that the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan is growing: it has already affected at least 18 million people, that is, about half of the population. Humanitarian aid may be useless if the country’s economy collapses, Guterres warned. Afghan assets abroad are still frozen, and economic development assistance has been suspended. The remaining banks in the country are closing, and access to basic services, such as healthcare, is suspended in many places.
China has already called for the lifting of sanctions and the unfreezing of Afghanistan’s foreign assets. On Monday, the European Union announced its decision to allocate 700 million euros of aid to the country.