Moscow cooperates with many other countries, including the United States, in efforts to resolve the Afghan issue, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an interview with the Mir broadcaster on Thursday.
“We are certainly concerned about Middle East issues, as well as everything related to Iran’s nuclear program and North Korea. We are closely following developments in Afghanistan. By the way, in this connection we continue rather fruitful cooperation with many countries, including the United States who has been facing a certain amount of strain there, maintaining the situation in Afghanistan,” Putin said as quoted by Tass, Russian News Agency.
He added that Moscow was making its own contribution to efforts to resolve the Afghan issue and expressed hope that international cooperation “will produce positive results”.
Putin’s comments come at a time that the US Special Envoy Zalmay Khalilzad is in Kabul for talks with Afghan leaders, politicians and civil society members on the peace process.
Putin said the CICA summit’s agenda is rather heavy. He pointed out that the forum had been established at the initiative of the first President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev as a platform where leaders “can gather and discuss developments in the vast region of Asia.”
“It particularly includes the Middle East and South Asia. There are many issues and problems that require attention, from the long-standing Israel-Palestine conflict to Afghanistan, Iran and its nuclear program, North Korea and its nuclear program, and so on. There are a lot of issues,” Putin said.
The Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia is a forum created to ensure peace, security and stability in Asia, which unites 27 countries of the region. Another eight countries and five international organizations, including the United Nations, have observer status with CICA, Tass said in a report.
