The fifth meeting of the Moscow format on consultations on Afghanistan took place in Kazan, the capital of Russia’s Tatarstan Republic, on September 29. 

The event brought together special representatives and senior officials from China, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.  Media reports say Afghanistan’s acting foreign minister attended the meeting, which also featured representatives of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Turkiye as guests of honor.

The group met to discuss some of Afghanistan’s most pressing issues such as militancy, the formation of an inclusive government, and freedom for women and minorities in the country.

The meeting ended with issuing the Kazan Declaration, which was adopted by all countries, except Tajikistan.

Tajikistan’s foreign ministry gave its comment only a week later. 

However, “national interests” is the only thing the Tajik MFA said about this.  They just noted that on the Afghan issue, Tajikistan is guided by national interest.     

At the same time, the ministry refrained from commenting on the words of Russia's presidential envoy for Afghanistan, Zamir Kabulov, who had earlier revealed details of the negotiation process on the Kazan declaration and Tajikistan’s position on rejection of certain provisions of the document.  

The Tajik MFA just advised Russia's presidential envoy for Afghanistan “to follow diplomatic etiquette.” 

Speaking at press conference after the meeting, Kabulov underlined that the Kazan declaration on the results of the meeting had been adopted by all countries, except Tajikistan.  He said the Tajik side disagreed on certain points of this declaration.

“Tajikistan refused to agree on a number of articles of a declaration summing up the results of the latest Moscow format meeting on Afghanistan in Kazan,” said Kabulov. "We are through with our work, and almost everybody has signed off on the Kazan Declaration, except Tajikistan, as our Tajik partners have objections to some articles of this declaration."  

According to him, the majority of participants of the meeting appreciated the significant efforts of the current Afghan authorities in combating drug trafficking and terrorism.  

“The majority of participants welcomed the efforts of the Taliban to fight ISIL in Afghanistan, and we have encouraged the Afghan authorities to continue these efforts, because it is in the interests of the safety of all neighbors.  We praised the Afghan authorities for the fight they are waging against the Afghan drug industry,” Kabulov was cited as saying by TASS.  

At the same time, he said that Tajikistan did not note the successes of the Taliban interim government in the fight against drug trafficking and terrorism. 

“Our Tajik partners – this is an order of Tajikistan’s leadership – are very critical of Afghanistan and believe that there is nothing to praise the current Afghan authorities for,” Kabulov said.   

The Moscow Format Consultations was launched in 2016 with the aim to promote political reconciliation between the then-Afghan government of Ashraf Ghani and the Taliban, who were at war against Afghan security forces and the US-led forces in the country.