Afghanistan, Taliban first direct talks in Moscow

Russia is hosting a highlevel talks in capital Moscow today, which its Foreign Ministry bills as the “first direct high-level talks between the Taliban and Afghan government”.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry sent invitations to representatives of 11 countries — Afghanistan, United States, India, Iran, China, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

Afghanistan already confirmed that a delegation from its High Peace Council will be attending; the Taliban also said it would send representatives to Moscow.

Former Afghan President Hamid Karzai also stated his intention to attend, because “any possibility of peace talks with the Taliban should not be ignored”.

The US alone has not confirmed its participation. But Russian diplomats say off-record that the US will be indirectly involved and informed.

Although each invited country is deeply involved in the Afghan conflict, their role at the conference is to legitimise the process of the talks between Taliban and the Afghan government, Omar Nessar, director of the Centre for Contemporary Afghan Studies, said. One of the main issues that Nessar expects the Taliban to discuss with the Afghan government at the conference is the withdrawal of all foreign troops from the country, primarily American forces.