The Moscow Format countries are more concerned about terrorism than about women's rights and an inclusive government in Afghanistan.
Author: Farid Yunus, Professor of Cultural Anthropology in the Middle East, California State University, member of the Sangar Advisory Board
On November 16, 2022, the countries of the region held a meeting called "Moscow format" at the initiative of Russia on the issue of Afghanistan.
The Moscow format began its work in April 2017 with the participation of eleven countries, namely Russia, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Iran, Pakistan, China, India, and Afghanistan.
The 2022 meeting was attended by only neighboring countries, namely Russia, Iran, Pakistan, and Central Asian countries. The Taliban were not invited to the 2022 meeting, which was a bitter political truth for them, and was a clear signal for non-recognition and political cooperation.
The format of Moscow can be viewed from different angles.
First, Russia's geopolitical and strategic position in the region shows that Russia wants to play an active role in resolving regional and Central Asian problems, and political progress is unlikely without Russia's consultation and approval. This position of Russia has strengthened compared to 2017 after the immediate withdrawal of US troops. Also, the dissatisfaction of all the countries included in this conference with the Taliban expresses the hope that the backward and petrified regime and the dictatorship of the Taliban must fall. This meeting marked a new phase of the Cold War between Russia and the United States of America. China, Russia, and Iran as strategic powers in the region, and Pakistan with the atomic bomb and a huge army, and the cooperation of these four members of the Moscow format challenges the US position in the region. The issue of Afghanistan and Ukraine has exacerbated the theme of the Cold War because, after the fall of Kabul, the US Foreign Secretary clearly stated that "American troops left Afghanistan, not they themselves."
Moscow's format touched on all aspects of human and women's rights and inclusive government, but more emphasis at the meeting in November 2022 was placed on the issue of terrorism and the security of member countries, as well as the spread of drugs from Afghanistan. It can be said that the Moscow format at the fourth meeting was more of a concern for the security of the member countries, who fear internal and external security due to the spread of terrorism. This fear is justified, and this researcher has written and spoken in the past on a prominent NPR radio program in the US that unless serious action is taken, terrorism will reach neighboring countries from the borders of Afghanistan and then Europe and the US.
Also, from the point of view of political stability, dictatorial regimes need support and guarantee their survival by building a chain cycle; If Soviet Russia kept Eastern Europe under its yoke, and when it fell, Eastern Europe also fell. The system of terrorism, not for the progress of Islam they created, but for their own survival, must go beyond its borders so that it can survive, and it will start from Pakistan if the Kabul regime continues.
The meeting in Moscow with cooperation between China and Russia is directed against the West, which has its own significance and should not be ignored. This cooperation with the support of Iran and Pakistan will lead to the fall of the Taliban because the Taliban regime is very dangerous and threatens the integrity of the countries of the region. If the Taliban regime falls, ethnicism will also be buried in Afghanistan.
