Russia said that a quadrilateral meeting will take place by the end of January this year to discuss Afghanistan.

The Russian president’s special envoy for Afghanistan, Zamir Kabulov, in an interview with Tass News Agency said that Russia, China, Pakistan, and Iran are preparing for the meeting.

According to Kabulov, interaction with Afghanistan’s current government to establish an inclusive government, and address counterterrorism and counter narcotics in the country will be discussed in the meeting.

“Interaction with the current Afghan authorities in the interests of creating an inclusive government, the fight against terrorism and drug crime will be discussed in the meeting,” Tass quoted Zamir Kabulov as saying.

The Islamic Emirate said that they have not been informed about the meeting but they insist on friendly relations with Russia, China, Pakistan and Iran.

“These are key countries in the region and we have good relations with them. We have bilateral embassies in the countries which means the bilateral relations are normal with these countries, we have trade and transit together but we still try to make the relationships much better,” Zabiullah Mujahid, the spokesperson for the Islamic Emirate, told TOLOnews.

This is not the first meeting on Afghanistan either on a regional or global level but analysts have different views on the outcomes of such meetings.

“In the upcoming meeting on Afghanistan, the countries will discuss their respective interests and engagement with Afghanistan,” said Najiburahman Shamal, a political analyst.

“Such meetings will not be fruitful until there are representatives of the people of Afghanistan in them. Because the participating countries will be discussing their own interests in the meeting,”  said Salim Paigeer,  another political analyst.

The specific date and venue of the meeting has not been specified yet.

It is not clear whether the Islamic Emirate will participate in the meeting but it has always said that a caretaker government’s representative should be present in all meetings on Afghanistan.