Moscow to Invite Taliban to Afghanistan Talks This Month
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Russia will invite representatives of the Taliban to international talks on Afghanistan that it plans to host in Moscow on Oct. 20, President Vladimir Putin's special representative on Afghanistan said on Thursday.
Zamir Kabulov, who is also the director of the Russian Foreign Ministry's second Asian Department, confirmed that an invitation had been extended.
Despite the Taliban being designated as a banned group in Russia, representatives of its political branch were granted permission to attend talks in Moscow earlier this year in an effort to forge a peace deal.
According to Reuters, Moscow hosted an international conference on Afghanistan in March at which Russia, the United States, China and Pakistan released a joint statement calling on the then-warring Afghan sides to reach a peace deal and curb violence.
It also called on the Taliban not to launch any offensives in the spring and summer.
Since then, the United States and its allies withdrew their troops after 20 years on the ground, the Taliban seized power in a lightning advance and the previous government collapsed.
