NUR-SULTAN. Oct 22 (Interfax) - It is important to involve the Taliban movement (recognized as terrorist and banned in Kazakhstan and Russia) in the network of international contacts and obligations at this point, Dauren Abayev, first deputy head of the Kazakh presidential administration, said.
"We should not forget that there is no guarantee that ISIL (terrorist organization, banned in Kazakhstan and Russia), for example, will not take their place if the Taliban regime collapses, for example, due to economic problems. The series of recent explosions, unfortunately, with numerous casualties in Afghanistan's mosques confirms the ambitions of more radical political movements. If we follow this logic, it is more rational to negotiate with the Taliban than not to do so," Abayev said on the Open Dialogue program.
"We are not the only ones negotiating with the movement. The world's largest powers and some countries of the region are doing that. It is very important to involve the Taliban in the network of international contacts and obligations now, at the initial stage. That's the only way to achieve two things: non-use of the country's territory to other states' detriment; secondly, to mitigate the regime. The isolation of Afghanistan will not be good for anyone, on the contrary, isolation increases radicalization," he said.
Abayev said he believes the Taliban coming to power in Afghanistan is "not the best scenario for any state," but this option "is not the worst."
"At least the Taliban are not looking to take over neighboring states. There are several forms of Islamic state, and the Taliban immediately proclaimed itself an emirate, not a caliphate, as many had expected [...] Outside expansion is included in the nature of a caliphate, while an emirate by definition proclaims rule only on its own territory," he said.