Russia and China need to be involved in talks on the situation and future of Afghanistan, Germany's Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said, adding that plans to evacuate Afghans facing possible persecution by the Taliban should be on the agenda as well.
An emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council in New York later Monday would be an indication of whether Moscow and Beijing are willing to cooperate, he said.
There are efforts underway "to bring all important international partners to the table, and so it will be important that Russia and China are also there," Maas said during a visit to the Uzbek capital Tashkent.
Unlike the other permanent members of the Security Council – the United States, Britain and France – Russia and China still have embassies open in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan.
Maas is visiting Tashkent as part of a trip to three of Afghanistan's neighboring countries for talks focused on continued evacuation efforts.
He will travel to Tajikistan for talks in Dushanbe in the afternoon. On Tuesday he will have meetings in the Pakistani capital Islamabad.
The three countries share land borders with Afghanistan and are expected to be among the main first destinations for people fleeing Taliban rule in Afghanistan.
Germany plans to take in 40,000 people, including former Afghan employees of the German military or government ministries and those in particular need of protection, such as human rights and women's rights activists and their families.
Germany flew more than 5,300 people out of Afghanistan before ending its evacuation mission out of Kabul airport on Thursday.
Maas promised the three neighboring nations economic and humanitarian assistance prior to his trip.
"It is in our own interest to prevent the collapse of Afghanistan from destabilizing the entire region," he said.
On Sunday Maas visited Turkey, which is playing a major role in the reception of refugees.
He will also visit Qatar. The country's capital Doha is home to the political office of the Taliban, which effectively functions as the Foreign Ministry of the new rulers in Afghanistan and with which German negotiator Markus Potzel has been conducting talks on evacuation issues for days.
During his Tashkent visit, Maas indicated that a conference on Afghanistan was being planned to include all of the country's neighbors.
