08 February 2002

U.S., Russia Meet on Afghanistan, Terrorism

Officials from the United States and Russia held the sixth meeting of the U.S.-Russia Afghanistan working group in Washington February 8 to discuss cooperation in implementing the Bonn agreement for the reconstruction of Afghanistan and fighting terrorism worldwide, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said, briefing reporters in Washington February 8.

Following is an excerpt from Boucher's February 8 briefing with his comments about the U.S.-Russia discussions on Afghanistan:

Question: What happened at this morning's talks with the Russians here on Afghanistan?

Mr. Boucher: Well, this morning's talks on Afghanistan weren't due to be over until right about the time I started, and they will continue throughout the day. So we do have the US-Russia Afghanistan working group meeting here. And let me see if there is any other information I have that I can share at this point.

This is the sixth meeting of the Afghan Working Group that takes place today in Washington. The chairs are Deputy Secretary Richard Armitage from our side and Russia's first Deputy Foreign Minister Trubnikov on the Russian side. Obviously they are discussing the situation in Afghanistan, efforts to implement and maintain the Bonn agreement, as well as efforts to counter terrorism worldwide. They will be meeting through the day, I think.

Question: Can we get something later in the day on that?

Mr. Boucher: I will try to get you something on that, yes.

Question: Well, this is a working group on Afghanistan, so they obviously discuss the issues surrounding Bonn and reconstruction. But the worldwide, the terrorism in general, has this broadened the scope of this -- is it now a US-Russia working group on terrorism?

Mr. Boucher: We have had other expert and specific discussions on terrorism issues worldwide. I think, first of all, the issue of Afghanistan, al-Qaida and their links to what we have said is some 60 countries, has naturally led us to a very broad and worldwide discussion in the past. So I wouldn't say that this is precisely an expansion right now; it's just inevitably part of the subject atter when you discuss terrorism around the world.