Question from 92 News Pakistan: The long-awaited truce between the Government of Afghanistan and the Taliban is at risk after the government showed its hand by refusing to release Taliban supporters that had been arrested. It decided to release only 1,500 of the 5,000 prisoners agreed on.
The country saw two presidential inauguration ceremonies and there is the impression that real peace is unlikely in the near future. What can you tell us about that?
Question from Asia News: The US Department of State published a statement rejecting the establishment of parallel government authorities in Afghanistan after the recent elections. What is Russia’s position on this issue?
Maria Zakharova: I would like to draw the attention of the journalists who submitted these questions, and the general public, to the commentary published on the Russian Foreign Ministry website on March 11. It is totally devoted to this topic.
It discusses the two inauguration ceremonies in Kabul on March 9, one each for the major rivals at the presidential election, Ashraf Ghani and Abdulah Abdulah.
We are concerned that the emerging controversy, particularly in the context of the latest developments mentioned above, is fraught with the further aggravation of an already complicated domestic political situation in the country and negative consequences for launching inclusive intra-Afghan talks which appeared possible following the US-Taliban agreement signed in Doha on February 29 this year.
Let me remind you that Russia welcomed the signing of this agreement and hopes it will be followed up on in full, something we also mentioned earlier. We expect any hurdles on the way to be cleared shortly, including resolving the issue of releasing 5,000 Taliban prisoners and 1,000 government service personnel ahead of the direct intra-Afghan talks on peace and the post-conflict configuration of the country as written in the above agreement.
We are urging all responsible political leaders in Afghanistan to be guided exclusively by national interests and to focus efforts on promoting the national reconciliation process which will lead to the end of the civil war and the revival of a peaceful, united and independent state free of terrorism and drug crime.
We are ready to further render all possible support to the friendly Afghan people in the interests of reaching these goals.
Fake media stories on the possibility of sending Russian troops to Afghanistan
We have noted an online publication about a statement made by Presidential Special Representative for Afghanistan Zamir Kabulov at a briefing at Rossiya Segodnya International Information Agency. He reportedly spoke about the possibility of sending Russian troops to Afghanistan to fight terrorism there should the Afghan authorities request it.
I would like to state with all responsibility and deliberately using such wording that this assertion is absolutely untrue, and that the Russian special representative never made it in any form. Not one single media outlet whose representatives attended the briefing, except this online publication, has published such headlines, stories or data. At best, we can perceive this as an extremely unsuccessful interpretation of the Russian diplomat’s words. I hope that we are not talking about a deliberate distortion or fake news. I am more convinced that those who prepared this story for the website had trouble choosing the appropriate wording.
Everyone knows the Russian position on this matter: Under no circumstances, has Russia planned to send its troops to Afghanistan nor does it intend to do this. One can only talk about the possibility of expanded cooperation with Afghanistan in the fight against terrorism and drug trafficking through current collaboration in the military-technical sphere and in the field of training skilled specialists. Everyone is well aware of the forms of such collaboration. We have regularly published material on this matter.
We are urging the media to be more professional and to fulfil their duties in a highly responsible manner because such interpretations and even distortions of data and statements can spell major problems during the interpretation of these stories in various countries. We are always ready to give answers to the issues of interest and to provide any additional explanations.
