Moscow, March 6 Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had a telephone conversation with his Afghan counterpart, Amir Khan Muttaqi, on Friday to discuss the ongoing tensions between Kabul and Islamabad, as well as the situation following the US-Israeli strikes on Iran.
According to a statement released by the Foreign Ministry, Lavrov emphasized the need to resolve the differences between Kabul and Islamabad through political and diplomatic means.
"The parties exchanged views on the situation in the region, including the negative and destabilizing consequences of aggression against Iran. They discussed prospects for reducing military and political tensions in Afghan-Pakistani relations," the statement said, without providing further details.
Even as the world's attention is focused on developments in West Asia, Moscow is closely monitoring the situation along the Afghan-Pakistan border and Islamabad's actions against the Taliban.
On Wednesday, during the regular weekly briefing of the Foreign Ministry, its spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, said: "We are concerned about the continuing clashes on the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan."
She noted that armed engagements involving aircraft and heavy weapons have been seen throughout the entire Pushtun-populated border zone, with casualties on both sides, and the fighting is affecting the civilian population, including Afghan refugees who have returned home from neighboring Pakistan and Iran.
