Moscow, May 18 (IANS/RIA Novosti): Moscow is counting on the UN to develop proposals regarding the international presence in Afghanistan after 2014, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Friday.
“We consider it important to start discussing in advance what forms of (international) presence there will be in Afghanistan after 2014; we will count on the proposals that the (UN) secretary general is planning to prepare together with his colleagues.”
Lavrov was speaking after a meeting with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in the southern Russian city of Sochi.
The International Security Assistance Force or, ISAF is to be withdrawn from Afghanistan in 2014, the same year when a presidential election is due in the country.
Lavrov said “coordinated action by the international community is very important”.