On December 27, the third round of trilateral consultations on regional problems, involving special representatives on Afghanistan and senior officials from Russia, China and Pakistan, ended in Moscow. The participants also met with Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov.

The parties pointed to the worsening security situation in the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and were especially worried about intensifying activities by extremist groups in that country, including the Afghan branch of ISIS.

The participants agreed to continue efforts to assist in furthering the national reconciliation process in Afghanistan, based on the key role of the Afghans themselves and in line with the principles of integrating the armed opposition into peaceful life. Russia and China, as permanent members of the UN Security Council, reaffirmed their readiness for flexible approaches to the prospect of excluding certain individuals from the list of sanctioned persons as part of efforts to promote a peaceful dialogue between Kabul and the Taliban movement.

The participants agreed to continue consultations in an expanded format and therefore would like to see Afghanistan take part.