Pakistan, Russia to assess Kabul’s performance

Bilawal to meet Lavrov today for talks on ‘a number of regional topics’

ISLAMABAD:

Pakistan and Russia would review progress of the interim Afghan government in fulfilling the commitments made with the international community for forming an inclusive government, and to denying terrorist outfits a space to operate from its soil, official sources said on Sunday.

The sources, familiar with the development, said that Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto, who is currently undertaking his maiden visit to Moscow, would meet his Russian counterpart, Sargey Lavrov in Moscow on Monday (today) and one of the major issues that would top the agenda would be Afghanistan.

Bilawal’s first visit to Moscow as the foreign minister comes at a time when Pakistan is concerned over the Afghan Taliban’s failure in controlling the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and its affiliates which have stepped up attacks in the country.

Russia too is worried over the growing footprint of Daesh terrorist group, which poses a threat to Moscow. Russia is also worried over the Afghan Taliban’s recent moves, such as banning female education and resorting to other measures that have raised the spectre of return of hard line Taliban rule of the late 1990s.

Ahead of the Bilawal-Lavrov meeting, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a tweet that the two top diplomats would discuss the fight against terrorism and a number of regional topics, including the state of affairs in Afghanistan, Syria and Ukraine.