Russia sees 'positive signal' from constructive meeting

Russia commended the Taliban's initial assurances as a "positive signal" after its ambassador had a constructive meeting with Taliban representatives in Kabul on Tuesday.

"I consider it a positive signal that the Taliban in Kabul are declaring and in practice showing their readiness to respect the opinion of others," said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, adding that the group behaved in a "civilized manner".

"In particular, they said that they are ready to discuss a government in which not only they but other Afghan representatives will also participate."

In the city of Kaliningrad, Lavrov said Moscow wanted the formation of Kabul's new government to be an inclusive process.

"We support the beginning of an inclusive national dialogue with the participation of all of Afghanistan's political, ethnic and religious groups," he said in comments carried by state-run TV network Rossiya 24 after the meeting.

Russia's Ambassador to Afghanistan Dmitry Zhirnov met with Taliban officials on Tuesday to discuss security details for the Russian diplomatic mission in Kabul. The meeting was announced the day before by the Kremlin's special envoy to Afghanistan, Zamir Kabulov, who also said the Taliban has already started guarding the perimeter of the Russian embassy.

Kabulov said Moscow's long campaign to build ties with the Taliban is now appearing to be paying off.

"It's not for nothing that we've been establishing contacts with the Taliban movement for the last seven years," Kabulov said. "We saw that this force would in the end, if not completely come to power, would play a leading role in the future of Afghanistan in any case."

Moscow, which fought a decadelong war in Afghanistan that ended with the Soviet troops' withdrawal in 1989, has made a diplomatic comeback as a mediator, reaching out to feuding Afghan factions and jockeying with the United States for influence in the country.

Though Russia designated the Taliban as a terrorist organization in 2003, the country has since hosted several rounds of talks between the two sides in Afghanistan's civil war, most recently in March. Russia is also seeking contact with the militants in an effort to avoid instability spilling over to neighboring former Soviet states.

Zhirnov talked about the meeting on Russian state television and stressed it was "dedicated exclusively to the security of the embassy". He also said it involved senior Taliban representatives in the city who were accepting the surrender of the remnants of the self-disbanded Afghan national security forces.

"The meeting was positive and constructive," Zhirnov said. "The Taliban representatives said the Taliban has the friendliest ... approach to Russia. They confirmed guarantees of security for the embassy."