Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov says a future Afghan government must be a coalition representing all the country's ethnic groups, but not the Taleban.
Mr. Ivanov told Russian television Saturday a post-Taleban government must enjoy the support of Afghanistan's neighbors and other nations that play an important role in Central Asia.
He said such a government cannot include so-called moderate Taleban members, saying it is impossible to distinguish Taleban moderates from Taleban extremists.
Mr. Ivanov cautioned against associating Afghanistan's majority Pashtun population with the Taleban, comparing it to lumping Nazis together with all Germans during World War Two.