Moscow ready to work with US on Afghanistan, top Russian envoy says

A top Russian foreign ministry official said in an interview published Saturday that Moscow is ready to cooperate with the United States on Afghanistan. 

Zamir Kabulov, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s special envoy to Afghanistan, told Russia’s state-run RIA news agency that Moscow has stayed in contact with Alice Wells, the acting U.S. assistant secretary of State for south and central Asian affairs and acting special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan. 

A translation of Kabulov’s interview was provided by Reuters.

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Kabulov’s comments came as Vice President Pence visits Afghanistan to discuss the Trump administration’s new strategy in the region. He met with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on Thursday, as well as U.S. troops at Bagram Airfield.

Earlier this year, President Trump put forward a broad strategy in Afghanistan that called for sending more troops to the war-torn country and upping regional cooperation with countries like Pakistan. 

The strategy also did away with a timetable for U.S. engagement in Afghanistan, and instead conditions assistance on the Afghan government’s cooperation and success. 

Kabulov said earlier this year that Wells had told him that Washington was willing to cooperate with Moscow on Afghanistan, but noted that the scope of such cooperation would be narrowed by U.S. sanctions on Russia.

“You introduced them, then you are to lift them, if you want to cooperate with us,” he said, according Russia state-funded news outlet RT.