Russia will
invite the Taliban to international talks on Afghanistan scheduled for Oct. 20
in Moscow, President
Vladimir Putin’s special representative, Zamir Kabulov, said on Thursday. The quote
was cited by Russian news agencies.

“Yes,”
Kabulov replied in answer to a query from Russian media about whether
representatives of the hardline organisation will be invited to talks among
China, India, Iran, and Pakistan.

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Zamir Kabulov
did not offer any further information on the upcoming conference.

The meetings
will take place after a G-20 conference on Afghanistan on Oct. 12 that aims to
prevent a humanitarian crisis in the aftermath of the Taliban’s takeover.

When asked if
Russia will provide aid to Afghanistan, Kabulov stated that the Kremlin would
do so, but that the details were still being worked out.

The humanitarian
catastrophe in Afghanistan is worsening, according to a top United Nations
official.

He told the media
that “cargo” was being collected and that “this is being worked
out.”

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Moscow has taken
steps to interact with the Taliban but has refrained from officially
recognising the group, which is outlawed as a terrorist organisation in Russia.

On Monday,
Kabulov had said Moscow would not rule out amending the Taliban’s UN
sanctions system. “But at this stage we believe it is not expedient to
rush,” he added.

In recent years,
the Kremlin has sought out the Taliban and welcomed its officials in Moscow
on multiple occasions, the most recent of which was in July.

Unlike many
Western countries, Russia has maintained its embassy in Kabul open since the
Taliban took power in August.

Also Read: Taliban leader calls Mahmud Ghaznavi a ‘renowned warrior’, condemned

Putin has
slammed foreign intervention in Afghan domestic matters, claiming that Moscow
has “learned lessons” from the Soviet Union’s invasion.

In the 1980s,
Moscow waged a ten-year war in Afghanistan that killed up to two million
Afghans, displaced seven million more, and resulted in the deaths of over
14,000 Soviet forces.