Valdai Club

The unexpected COVID-19 pandemic, which for a time occupied the minds of the world's political elites, did not justify the timid hopes that it could provide some kind of healing effect, mitigating the overwhelmingly high degree of tensions in international relations. The pandemic only superficially and briefly distracted the attention of the public, the media and the Internet. The processes themselves, both at the global and regional levels, followed their own course, evolving towards further uncertainties and new challenges.

The recent US-Taliban agreement is unlikely to lead to early stabilisation in Afghanistan. Most probably, it will introduce the next stage in the intra-Afghan conflict, the ultimate results of which we cannot predict, writes Mikhail Konarovsky, Ambassador Extraordniary and Plenipotentiary, senior fellow with the MGIMO University Institute for International Studies.