Russia is working with other countries to hold an emergency UN Security Council meeting on Afghanistan, where the Taliban appear ready to seize power, a senior diplomatic official said Sunday.
“We are working on it,” Zamir Kabulov, the Kremlin envoy for Afghanistan, was quoted as saying by Russian news agencies as saying the meeting should take place soon.
“The situation requires the immediate intervention of the UN Security Council. It is important to avoid another humanitarian catastrophe and a greater threat to security and stability in the region ”, declared the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Russian Parliament, Leonid Sloutsky, for his part.
He called for “intensifying the diplomatic efforts of the entire international community” to stabilize the situation in Afghanistan, a country located near the former Soviet republics of Central Asia that Moscow considers part of its sphere of influence.
“We cannot allow the creation of a new hotbed of terrorism in the immediate vicinity of the Russian borders and of our partners,” stressed Leonid Sloutsky.
The vice president of the upper house of the Russian Parliament, Konstantin Kossatchev, for his part, estimated on Facebook that it was necessary to “intensify regional diplomatic efforts” and define a “common line” between Russia, Afghanistan’s neighbors in Central Asia and China, India. and Pakistan.
He said the current situation in Afghanistan was predictable due to the “flight” of US troops from the country, although the “speed of what is happening is surprising.”
Russia is one of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, along with the United States, the United Kingdom, France and China.
The Taliban were approaching a total seizure of power in Afghanistan on Sunday, after an extremely swift military campaign that brought them to the gates of Kabul, where their fighters were ordered not to enter.
Russia is among the countries that have received assurances from the Taliban regarding the security of their embassies, Zamir Kabulov said on Sunday. He stressed that “no evacuation was planned” of his diplomatic representation.