Iran and Russia have underlined the need for joint cooperation to help restore stability in Afghanistan ahead of a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) on the war-ravaged country, reported Press TV.
Head of the Iranian Foreign Ministry's Afghanistan Headquarters Mohsen Pak-Ayin and Russian president's special envoy to Afghanistan Zamir Kabulov met and held talks on Afghanistan, Mehr news agency reported Tuesday.
In the meeting, the two officials called for more cooperation in the campaign against drug trafficking and terrorism to help bring back security to Afghanistan.
Pak-Ayin said that Tehran and Moscow should devise a joint plan to expand cooperation over Afghanistan.
Kabulov, who was formerly Russia's ambassador to Afghanistan, also expressed Moscow's readiness to work with Tehran to contribute to the restoration of peace in Afghanistan.
Deputy foreign ministers of the observer and member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization are scheduled to convene on Tuesday to discuss Afghanistan's security issues, including terrorism, drug trafficking, and extremism.
The SCO is an intergovernmental security organization that was founded in 2001 in Shanghai by leaders of China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.
Iran, India, Mongolia, and Pakistan are the observer states of this organization.