Russia, EU agree to cooperate on Afghanistan

Russian President Vladimir Putin and the head of the European Council Charles Michel on Wednesday discussed the evolving situation in Afghanistan and agreed to cooperate on regional stability, a Kremlin statement said.

In a phone call, Putin and Michel also expressed readiness to prevent the spread of terrorism, extremism and drug crime, the statement added.

"Both sides stressed the importance of maintaining civil peace in the country and preventing violence, as well as establishing a real intra-Afghan dialogue to ensure the integrity of the Afghan state, taking into account the interests of all population groups," it read.

Discussing the Ukrainian settlement, Putin and Michel agreed on the necessity of the Minsk agreement's implementation, the statement noted.

Putin also informed Michel about the steps being taken to fulfill the trilateral cease-fire agreement between Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia on the Nagorno-Karabakh issue, it said.

In a separate statement, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Moscow is closely following the developments in Afghanistan and currently does not plan contacts with the interim government established by the Taliban.

The Taliban seized control of Afghanistan after taking the control of Kabul on Aug. 15, forcing the president and other top officials to leave the country.

On Tuesday, the Taliban announced an interim government, which includes only its own members, claiming the current Cabinet is temporary.

The Taliban recently declared the war in Afghanistan over after taking control of the presidential palace in Kabul, while Western nations scrambled to evacuate their citizens amid chaos at Kabul Hamid Karzai International Airport as frantic Afghans searched for a way out.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said, "The Taliban have won with the judgment of their swords and guns, and are now responsible for the honor, property and self-preservation of their countrymen," after fleeing the country as the militants entered the capital virtually unopposed, saying he wanted to avoid bloodshed. The ensuing hours saw hundreds of Afghans desperate to leave Kabul airport.

"Today is a great day for the Afghan people and the mujahideen. They have witnessed the fruits of their efforts and their sacrifices for 20 years," Mohammad Naeem, the spokesperson for the Taliban's political office, told Qatar-based media outlet Al-Jazeera TV. "Thanks to God, the war is over in the country," he said.

It took the Taliban just over a week to seize control of the country after a lightning sweep that ended in Kabul as government forces, trained for two decades and equipped by the United States and others at a cost of billions of dollars, melted away.