Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Wednesday called for a political settlement in Afghanistan as his Swiss counterpart Ignazio Cassis offered Switzerland to play a peace-broking role between warring factions.

In a conference speech, Lavrov said, "We believe that the Afghan crisis can be settled only by political means."

He said, "A broad intra-Afghan dialogue with the participation of the government, the Taliban movement, and the whole spectrum of political and social forces is needed."

Afghan President Ghani said in a speech his government has formed a negotiating team to work on a peace agreement with the Taliban.

"We seek a peace agreement in which the Afghan Taliban would be included in a democratic and inclusive society," Ghani told the conference.

Swiss Foreign Minister Cassis also spoke on the second day of the conference to assess progress since a pledging conference was held in Brussels in 2016 and to measure results against the 15.2 billion U.S. dollars committed by the international community for Afghanistan in 2016.

"After 17 years of war that produced only losers, the time has come for dialogue. The time has come for a political solution. Switzerland is ready to host any round of talks if requested," said Cassis.

Tens of thousands of civilians have been killed and wounded in Afghanistan since the war started in 2001.

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