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The leaders of the Commonwealth of Independent States declared their support for a political settlement in Afghanistan under the aegis of the UN, expected to establish a multi-ethnic and wide-based government in accordance with UN Security Council Resolution 1378. They stressed that the Taliban regime had lost the right to be represented on the country’s institutions of power.

The Presidents said they believed it was the exclusive and inalienable right of the Afghans alone to determine Afghanistan’s future.

The CIS heads of state called for expanding humanitarian aid to the Afghan people and for a comprehensive international programme on the post-war rehabilitation of Afghanistan’s economy.

In another statement, which was adopted to mark the 10th anniversary of the Commonwealth, the sides expressed interest in intense trade, economic, military and military-technical cooperation and coordination of anti-crime efforts. The document expressed the readiness of CIS countries to continue the joint fight against international terrorism and narcotics trafficking on a legal basis.

The heads of state declared they intended to work for an early peaceful solution to armed conflicts on the territories of CIS member-states based on the universally accepted rules and principles of international law and the fuller use of the Commonwealth’s peace-making potential.