<p><a href="/en/afganistan/kabul" class="glossify-link">KABUL</a>’s soil against others and would not tolerate others to harm their country.</p>
<p>The 14-member Taliban delegation, led by the group’s chief negotiator <a href="/en/mullah" class="glossify-link">Mullah</a> Abdul Ghani Baradar, attended a ceremony in Moscow marking 100 years of diplomatic relations between Afghanistan and Russia.</p>
<p>Besides Russian officials, the event was attended by senior Afghan politicians and candidates challenging President Ashraf Ghani in the September presidential election and some Afghan officials.</p>
<p>Reports say the Taliban delegation would hold informal talks with the Afghan politicians on the sidelines of the two-day event in Moscow on the Afghanistan peace process.</p>
<p>The Taliban delegation in their statement regarding relations between Russian and Afghanistan said the ties between the two countries were about 250 years old.</p>
<p>They said Russia and Afghanistan maintained relations based on the principles of mutual respect and non-interference from 1919 until 1950. The Taliban also mentioned one billion dollars aid Russia provided to Afghanistan between 1950 and 1960.</p>
<p>“This decade was the most important period in terms of Afghanistan’s development and infrastructure but unfortunately the then Russian communist regime started imposing their ideology and political influence on Afghans and then begins the third phase of bilateral relations marred by political interference and direct invasion of Afghanistan that followed the era of Afghan resistance and <a href="/en/jihad" class="glossify-link">jihad</a>, which not only resulted in disintegration of the Soviet Union but also caused widespread losses to Afghanistan.”</p>
<p>The Taliban said keeping in mind past experiences, it should be realized that neighboring countries, regional and international powers should pursue their interests in Afghanistan in a way that the interests of others were not harmed.</p>
<p>The delegation said the Taliban wanted positive relations with all neighboring and regional countries and the international community. They said they would not allow any country to use Afghanistan’s soil against others and would not tolerate others to harm Afghanistan.</p>
<p>The Taliban said future relations between Russia and Afghanistan should be based on mutual interest and non-interference in each other’s affairs in order to avoid past bitter experiences.</p>
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