Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev has held a telephone conversation with his Iranian counterpart, Ali Shamkhani, during which the sides discussed the Afghan peace process, as well as the issues of mutual interest, the Russian council's press service said on Thursday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 21st January, 2021) Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev has held a telephone conversation with his Iranian counterpart, Ali Shamkhani, during which the sides discussed the Afghan peace process, as well as the issues of mutual interest, the Russian council's press service said on Thursday.
The officials held the conversation ahead of Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Zarif's visit to Moscow, planned for January 26.
"Nikolai Patrushev and Ali Shamkhani have discussed a range of issues of the Russian-Iranian cooperation in the security sphere, as well as the international agenda, particularly, the problem of the Afghan settlement. The conversation was held in the course of regular contacts between the security councils of the two countries," the press service said.
Afghanistan is still plagued by long-lasting violence that claims the lives of Afghan civilians and security personnel, despite the ongoing intra-Afghan peace negotiations that began in the Qatari capital of Doha on September 12. In early December, Kabul and the Taliban took a three-week break in their talks for consultations on a negotiation framework. The sides resumed negotiations on January 6 in Qatar's capital Doha. On January 12, Russia's special presidential representative for Afghanistan, Zamir Kabulov, said that Russia called on the Afghan government and the Taliban to actively engage in the intra-Afghan talks to reach long-lasting peace in the war-torn country.
