Published on: Oct 6, 2026, 11:37:54 IST

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Islamabad, The eighth edition of the Moscow Format regional consultations on Afghanistan has ended without a joint statement, mainly because of disagreements between Pakistani and Afghan delegations, according to a media report on Tuesday.

Russian presidential envoy for Afghanistan Zamir Kabulov said Moscow regretted that the participants could not agree on the final document, the Dawn newspaper reported.

"When drafting the final joint statement, we encountered one problem, that problem was that our Afghan and Pakistani colleagues didn't see eye to eye," he said.

The Moscow meeting brought together special envoys and senior officials from Afghanistan, China, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, with Belarus and Egypt attending as guests.

The format, established in 2017, has emerged as one of the main regional diplomatic tracks on Afghanistan.

The failure to agree on a joint statement underscored how the worsening Pakistan-Afghanistan dispute is now complicating wider regional efforts to build consensus on Afghanistan.

Kabulov said the Afghan side objected to references that placed Afghanistan in a terrorist context.

Pakistan's special envoy for Afghanistan, Mohammad Sadiq, told the meeting that Islamabad wanted peace and stability in the region and had pursued political and diplomatic engagement with the Taliban leadership.

"Pakistan desires peace and stability in the region and has remained patiently engaged in political and diplomatic efforts aimed at addressing the menace of terrorism emanating from Afghan soil," he said.

"However, it is unfortunate that Pakistan's numerous goodwill gestures and highly responsible approach were misconstrued, resulting in increased terrorist attacks from Afghan soil, with the active support and backing of the Taliban Regime," he further said.

Afghan Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi, meanwhile, criticised Pakistan's statements and actions towards Afghanistan, accusing Islamabad of using military pressure, refugees, students and transit routes as instruments of leverage.

At the same time, he insisted that the problems affecting relations between the two neighbours could be resolved through dialogue and diplomacy.

Russia offered to help de-escalate the dispute, although Kabulov stressed that resolving bilateral disputes was not the purpose of the Moscow Format.

"Russia is ready to assist in ending this conflict in any possible, permissible way either on its own or in partnership with our other partners provided that both sides make such a request," he said.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who opened the meeting, endorsed the performance of the Taliban authorities while warning against any attempt by NATO to establish military infrastructure in Afghanistan or neighbouring countries.

He backed assistance to Kabul and said strengthening Afghanistan's counterterrorism capacity served regional interests.

The main goal of the forum is to promote national reconciliation in Afghanistan and to ensure the fastest establishment of peace in the country.

This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.

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