The joint trilateral virtual meeting among the Institute for Political and International Studies (IPIS) and the Russian International Affairs Council ( RIAC) and the  Vivekananda International Foundation (VIF) of India was held on Wednesday, October 6, 2021.

The meeting was held by  speeches from Mr.Mohammadhassan Sheikholeslami, President of IPIS; Mr.Majid Ghafelehbashi, Research Deputy for IPIS;Seyedrasoul Mousavi, General Director for West Asia Department; Hossein Ebrahimkhani, Senior Researcher of IPIS; and Bahman Agharazi, Former Iranian Ambassador to Tashkent, on one side, and, Andrey Kortunov, president of RIAC; Arvind Gupta, President of VIF; and other senior researchers from the said institutes.  

The meeting was formed in the form of three panels to answer the following questions: 1) What are the interests of Russia, India and Iran, regarding the Afghanistan domestic developments and their regional reflection? Is there room for cooperation? 2) What are the consequences of the recent Afghanistan developments for third countries ( the US, China, Turkey…)? 3) What impact will the Afghanistan crisis have on the agenda of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization? Is there ground for a joint strategy? What opportunities are there and what are the security hazards?

Here are the major topics touched upon at the meeting:

• The Afghanistan developments and the Taliban rise to power have created numerous short and long term consequences for the region. Therefore, one basic course of action to be taken to maintain stability and security in the region is cooperation and exchange of intelligence at various bilateral and multilateral levels. However, optimism and pessimism about the Afghanistan developments aside, we have to heed realistic ideas and act based on them.
• The three countries of Iran, Russia and India have since old times had constructive cooperation on regional and international issues at various levels. This history of cooperation can be used as a firm platform for exchange of views about various issues like the Afghanistan developments based on common interests.
• Foreign interference and the US and its allies’ irresponsible pullout are one of the main causes of instability in Afghanistan. Therefore, to achieve sustainable peace and stability in this region, the foreign countries must stop interference , and on the other hand, the future government of Afghanistan , considering its diverse ethnic population, must  be a comprehensive government.
• The commonalities among the three countries can accelerate the peace process in Afghanistan. Focusing on implementation of the North and South Corridors as well as strengthening projects like Chabahar’s can have a big impact on the welfare and economic development of the Afghanistan people.