The Deputy Russian Foreign Minister, Alexei Borodavkin met with the Deputy Afghan Foreign Minister handling political issues, Mohammad Kabir Farahi in Moscow on the 25th of January.

According to the Russian Foreign Ministry’s official website, the two diplomats discussed the Afghan issue in details in the context of the forthcoming London International Conference on Afghanistan. “They supported revival of the country as a peaceful, independent and economically stable state at the earliest,” says the Russian Foreign Ministry statement. They emphasized the importance of strengthening the role of Afghans in ruling the country and the handing over of the responsibility for stabilization of the situation to them from the foreign forces as the Afghan armed forces achieve fighting efficiency.

The two diplomats emphasized the need to promote coordinated efforts on countering Afghan drug threat, including the use of the potential of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the Collective Security Treaty Organization.

They also discussed the Russian Afghan cooperation and ways to promote it. “They expressed mutual interest in strengthening bilateral cooperation in political, anti-drug, social, economic and other areas,” says the document.