Pakistan, Russian Foreign Ministers discuss Afghan peace

Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi met his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov here on Wednesday, on the final leg of his four-nation tour as part of the Pakistani governments policy of outreach in the war-torn Afghanistan.

Qureshi and Lavrov discussed the progress on Afghan peace and reconciliation process in the meeting at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs here.

The two dignitaries also held discussions on bilateral ties and the regional situation, Pakistan Foreign Office spokesperson Mohammad Faisal tweeted.

Qureshi earlier visited Afghanistan, Iran and China where he held talks with his counterparts and other high-ranking officials on the Afghan peace process.

His tour was a part of promoting various initiatives and ideas for regional cooperation, especially in promoting economic and people-to-people linkages, Geo News said.

In order to kickstart direct negotiations between the Afghan Taliban and the Afghan government, Moscow had last month hosted peace talks that were attended by delegations of the terror group, the Afghan government and global stakeholders. A Pakistani delegation had also attended the peace talks, Dawn reported.

Following that, Pakistan brokered a meeting between the US and the Taliban in the United Arab Emirates last week in a bid to pave the way for reviving the peace process that has remained stalled since 2015.

The talks were arranged after US President Donald Trump wrote a letter to Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan seeking his help in ending the Afghan conflict.

--IANS

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