Russia, US agree on new niche of practical coordination in Afghan

''Russia and US confirmed their readiness to consistently look for new niches of practical cooperation in strengthening the Afghan state, assisting Kabul with economic reconstruction and capacity building for the Afghan National Army and Police and effectively suppressing illicit drug trafficking in Afghanistan,'' Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement after the talks in Moscow with US Special Envoy for Af-Pak Richard Holbrooke.

Holbrooke met with senior officials of the Russian Security Council, the Foreign, Defence, Finance and Emergencies Ministries and the Federal Drug Control Service of Russia. There were also meetings of the Russia-US working groups on economic and military-technical assistance to Afghanistan and on the implementation of the Intergovernmental Transit Agreement. ''The focus of attention was the current situation in Afghanistan after the presidential election, the urgent tasks in promoting an Afghan settlement and prospects for pairing disparate efforts of Russia and the United States, bilaterally and multilaterally, in the Afghan sector,'' the statement said. ''Both sides underlined the importance of speedily forming consolidated approaches by the international community at this new stage of Afghan stabilization, which is called upon to lay a solid foundation for the emergence of Afghanistan as a sovereign state,'' it stressed. ''Russia and the United States intend to participate actively in this process, working closely with the Afghan Government,'' it said.

''In this context, the meetings of the working groups continued discussion of a number of promising projects of such cooperation,'' it said. ''Richard Holbrooke also informed the Russian side of the basic elements of a renewed US Afghan policy now being developed by the Administration of Barack Obama,'' it said. ''Agreement was reached to deepen Russia-US coordination in questions of the development of a future international strategy in Afghanistan,'' it added.

-- (UNI) -- 19DF1.xml

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