MOSCOW – Russia will convene a 'Troika Plus' summit on Afghanistan next month, with the United Nations, China, and Pakistan as participants, according to Moscow's Special Representative to Kabul, Zamir Kabulov.

In November, Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi spoke at a Troika Plus meeting in Islamabad, saying that interaction with the Taliban's Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) government in Afghanistan must continue in order to assist cement peace and stability.

During the IEA's takeover of Afghanistan in August, the group gathered in Qatar to seek political solutions to the crisis. Kabulov did not say whether Taliban representatives would attend the upcoming conference in his announcement on Thursday.

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