Tajik leader supports Russian,US initiatives for Afghanistan

DUSHANBE, December 12 (Itar-Tass) - Tajik President Emomali Rakhmonov and Secretary of the Russian Security Council Sergei Ivanov have discussed the regional security and the Afghan standing, Rakhmonov's press secretary Zafar Saidov said.

Rakhmonov and Ivanov are now in Palermo, Italy, to attend a political conference on the U.N. Convention Against Transnational Crime.

Rakhmonov noted the importance of initiatives of Russia and the United States in the Afghan settlement and their striving to stop the armed confrontation and bloodshed in Afghanistan.

The interlocutors also touched upon the Russian-Tajik cooperation and other issues of mutual interest.