The first round of the “Afghanistan and Russia Bilateral Dialogue” was co-organized by the Afghan Institute for Strategic Studies (AISS) and the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences,on 5th–7th November, 2017 in Moscow, Russia. The first round of the dialogue was attended by experts and officials from the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan as well as the Russian Federation. The Afghan delegation was led by Dr. Rangin Dadfar Spanta, AISS’ chairman of Advisory Board and former National Security Adviser.
During the one-day dialogue, there were four working sessions under the following themes: 1) the current situation in Afghanistan: condition and prospects, 2) Extremism/Terrorism, 3) Countering drug trafficking from Afghanistan, and 4) Afghanistan-Russia Bilateral Relations.
Alongside this dialogue, the Afghan delegation had a meeting with the deputy National Security Adviser of Russian Federation as well as attending a press conference with the Russian foreign journalists based in Moscow. The second meeting of the Bilateral Dialogue will take place in Kabul in late 2018.