Moscow Has Not Been Asked By US To Cooperate On Counterterrorism In Afghanistan - Official

Moscow Has Not Been Asked by US to Cooperate on Counterterrorism in Afghanistan - Official

Russia has not received an official request from the United States to cooperate on counterterrorism operations in Afghanistan, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Oleg Syromolotov said in an interview with Sputnik

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 22nd November, 2019) Russia has not received an official request from the United States to cooperate on counterterrorism operations in Afghanistan, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Oleg Syromolotov said in an interview with Sputnik.

In February, Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov said that Moscow was prepared to assist or at least engage in dialogue with the US on counterterrorism efforts in Afghanistan.

"An official request from the US to cooperate on counterterrorism operations in Afghanistan has not come in," the official said, noting however, that the two sides shared a productive cooperative relationship in the middle Eastern country.

Syromolotov also said that counterterrorism was at the forefront of Moscow and Washington's dialogue on Afghanistan on the level of foreign ministry deputies and experts from high-profile government agencies.

He added that Moscow was working to coordinate efforts in Afghanistan to set up another round of peace talks among the parties involved in the inter-Afghan conflict.

"[Russia] is trying to coordinate efforts in order to create a positive international environment for the achievement of a ceasefire in Afghanistan and to launch peace talks among the conflicting Afghan sides," the diplomat said, adding that constant contacts on this issue via multilateral platforms, including the United Nations, helped all sides coordinate steps to address terrorism in Afghanistan.

Afghanistan has been suffering a prolonged confrontation between government forces and the militants of the Taliban movement as well as from terrorist groups, including the Islamic State (banned in Russia). Despite ongoing international efforts to hold peace talks these contacts have not yet yielded results.

On October 25, Moscow hosted consultations on the Afghan conflict settlement between representatives of Russia, China, the United States and Pakistan.