Iran Press/ Asia: Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian left Tehran for Samarkand, Uzbekistan on Wednesday at the head of a political delegation, to participate in the 4th meeting of the foreign ministers of Afghanistan’s neighbors (including the Islamic Republic of Iran, China, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and Tajikistan plus Russia).
The second round of the quadrilateral meeting between Iran, China, Pakistan, and Russia was held in the morning on the sidelines of the meeting of Afghan neighbors in Samarkand. Amir-Abdollahian said in an interview after the end of the meeting: "This morning, we held the second round of the quadrilateral meeting of Iran, China, Pakistan, and Russia, on the sidelines of the meeting of the foreign ministry of neighboring Afghanistan, and we discussed the concerns about Afghanistan."
The first quadrilateral meeting was held on September 16, 2022, on the sidelines of the Shanghai Summit in Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan. In that meeting, the foreign ministers of four countries supported the formation of an inclusive government with the participation of all ethnic groups in Afghanistan, Iran's top diplomat added: "These concerns include the spread of terrorism, the continuation of the U.S. and Western sanctions against Afghanistan, (which makes the living condition very difficult for the people, and the increase of refugees and immigrants to neighboring countries,) drugs, and the need to seriously control drug trafficking from Afghanistan, and the responsibility of the Afghan governing body, and concern about the education of Afghan women and girls and Iran's readiness to help the women and girls were discussed."
Stating that a meeting of special representatives and senior experts of countries on Afghanistan is scheduled to be held in Doha in the coming days, and the United Nations will also play a role in it, Iran's minister added: "In the quadrilateral meeting, we agreed to adopt a more coordinated approach of the neighboring countries in the Doha meeting."
The foreign ministers of Russia, China, and Iran and Pakistan’s minister of state for foreign affairs are holding a meeting in Uzbekistan’s Samarkand on Thursday within the framework of a ministerial conference of Afghanistan’s neighboring countries.
Before the meeting, Sergey Lavrov, Qin Gang, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, and Rabbani Khar took pictures together with the meeting proceeding in a closed format.
The top diplomats of Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan are also participating.
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Iran FM arrives in Samarkand to attend summit on Afghanistan
