Uzbekistan is hosting the Fourth Foreign ministers’ Meeting on Afghan Issues that is taking place in the Uzbek city of Samarkand tomorrow, April 13. 

Top diplomats of Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Russia, Iran, China and Pakistan are expected to participate in the meeting to discuss issues facing Afghanistan.

IRNA reports that as in previous rounds of talks, no representative from the Taliban will be present at the meeting as most countries of the world have not officially recognized the group as the lawful government of Afghanistan.

The Taliban have reportedly demanded that they be included in the talks.

Afghanistan’s neighbors and Russia last convened in Uzbekistan’s capital, Tashkent, in March, where they pledged to meet regularly to discuss the economic and humanitarian situation in Afghanistan.  

Iran hosted the second round of talks in October 2021, and the third ministerial meeting on Afghan issues was held in China in late March last year.  .