Amid uncertainty over whether the Afghanistan Embassy in Delhi would shut down in the coming week, India took part in the nine-nation “Moscow Format” meeting, which included the Taliban’s Acting Foreign Minister as an invitee, in the Russian city of Kazan on September 30. Special envoys from Pakistan, Russia, China, Iran, and Central Asian states also took part in the meeting.
The regional grouping repeated its previous demands that the Taliban form a “truly inclusive government” and accord equal rights and freedoms to all Afghans, including women. However, it failed to make headway on the issue or extract any promise from the Taliban representatives on a timeline for government formation or on restarting girl’s education.
“[The participants] regretfully stated that there had been no progress in forming a truly inclusive government in Afghanistan, reflecting the interests of all ethno-political groups of the country,” said the ‘Kazan Declaration’, issued at the end of the meeting.
