Make-Up Of Future Afghan Government Is Matter For Afghans Themselves, Not Washington Or Moscow

The make-up of a future government of Afghanistan is not a matter for us, nor a matter for Washington, it is a matter above all for the Afghans themselves, Maxim Peshkov, Russia's ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary to the Republic of Tajikistan, told journalists on Tuesday. Replying to a question by journalists about the possibility of the Taliban joining Afghanistan's future government, the Russian ambassador said: "The world community has a number of criticisms to make against the Taliban movement. To begin with, a powerful infrastructure for training and retraining of terrorist militants practically from all over the world has been organised on the territory controlled by the Taliban. Afghanistan is a major world centre for the production and smuggling of drugs," Peshkov said. "If the same Taliban, only assuming a different hue, were to stay at the helm, this would not solve the Afghan problem," the Russian ambassador said.