Iran Press/ Asia: Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang, and Russia’s top diplomat Sergey Lavrov will meet their counterparts from Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan in Samarkand to discuss the latest developments in Afghanistan and issues facing the country.
No representative from the Taliban will be present at the meeting as most countries of the world have not officially recognized the group as the lawful government of Afghanistan. The Taliban have demanded that they be included in the talks.
Afghanistan’s neighbors and Russia, during their last meeting in Uzbekistan in March, pledged to meet regularly to review the economic and humanitarian situation in the country.
The parties called for a US freeze on Afghan central bank assets to be lifted. Washington froze some $7 billion in Afghan assets after the Taliban swept back to power in August 2021 following a disastrous withdrawal from Kabul.
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