CIS Secretary General: Isolating Afghanistan Is Not a Solution; Regional Stability Depends on Engagement with Kabul

Kabul – Kabul Times News: The Secretary General of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), emphasizing Afghanistan’s important role in regional dynamics, warned that excluding the country from regional cooperation processes will not only fail to resolve security challenges but could also further complicate the situation.

Sergey Lebedev, the Secretary General of the organization, stated on Wednesday at the “Primakov Readings” conference that CIS member states prefer a policy of engagement and pragmatic dialogue with Afghanistan’s caretaker government over isolation. According to him, removing Afghanistan from regional cooperation increases the risk of prolonged political deadlock and escalating security threats.

Lebedev stressed that achieving lasting security and stability in the region is not possible without Afghanistan’s participation in economic, transit, and regional cooperation projects. He added that member states, while maintaining contact with authorities in Kabul, also emphasize the need for effective action against ISIS and other security threats.

The CIS Secretary General also pointed to recent geopolitical developments and called for strengthening regional cooperation and adopting preventive strategies to manage shared challenges.

The Commonwealth of Independent States includes Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Moldova. Some of these countries have maintained working relations and diplomatic contacts with Kabul following the Taliban’s return to power in 2021.

However, despite increasing engagement by some regional countries with Afghanistan’s caretaker government, concerns about the country’s security situation persist. In this regard, Viktor Vasiliev, the rotating chair of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, described Afghanistan as the “most significant security challenge” in Central Asia during an international legal forum in St. Petersburg yesterday.

Meanwhile, the United Nations continues to express concern over the human rights situation, widespread restrictions on women and girls, and the activities of terrorist groups in Afghanistan—issues that remain among the main obstacles to normalizing relations between Afghanistan’s caretaker government and the international community.