Putin (left) and Trump (right) – file photo

MOSCOW, July 13 (Sputnik) – Russian President Vladimir Putin may bring up Afghanistan at talks with Donald Trump next week, a Russian special envoy for this Central Asian nation said. “I know that our president has this topic in his notes for the talks. I think if Donald Trump shows enough interest, Vladimir Putin will be ready to discuss it,” Zamir Kabulov told the Izvestia newspaper.

The presidents are scheduled to meet in Helsinki next Monday. The Kremlin said Putin wanted to discuss outlooks for future bilateral ties and urgent international issues. Kabulov told the paper that Russia was preparing a new round of multinational consultations on Afghanistan in Moscow, which will also involve its neighbors and China. “We have always welcomed the US participation in these consultations but it has so far ignored the invitation,” the envoy said.

Meetings have been held regularly since February 2017. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said earlier this format could bring Afghan officials and the Taliban militant group to the negotiating table.