Russia Hopes For The Success Of The UN Conference On Afghanistan Which Opens In Germany

Russia hopes for the success of the intra-Afghan quadripartite peace conference which opens on Tuesday in the Petersberg residence near Bonn under the aegis of the United Nations, said Zamir Kabulov, vice director of the third Asia department of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He heads the group of high-ranking officials of the Russian Foreign Ministry who have arrived on the banks of the Rhine to conduct "lobby work with all interested delegations in support of the UN's efforts for an inter-Afghan settlement." As Zamir Kabulov said, the same work is being done here by diplomats from the USA, Britain, India and other countries. According to the Russian diplomat, who yesterday held meetings with special representatives of the UN Secretary General for Afghanistan Lakhdar Brahimi and with his American colleagues, the positions of Russia and the USA on the necessity of a peaceful development of Afghanistan fully coincide. Zamir Kabulov emphasised that the question of the future government of Afghanistan would have to be decided of course by the Afghans themselves. However, Russia is interested in having near its borders a peaceful Afghanistan whose territory would not be a source of war and conflicts. "Today the process of the post-conflict development of Afghanistan only begins. After the twenty-two years of war any endeavour is not an easy thing, but we hope for cooperation of the entire international coalition which wishes a peaceful development of Afghanistan," said the spokesman for the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.