“We will not tolerate a single US soldier in Afghanistan,” said the head of the Taliban delegation at the international meeting on Afghanistan in Moscow, Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai, adding that the insurgent group’s “main goal” is to “put an end” to the 17-year-long “invasion” led by the US and its allies.
— RT (@RT_com) 9 ноября 2018 г.
#BREAKING ‘We will have NO direct contact with the government in #Kabul’ - #Taliban movement political office members in #Moscow to talk about peace in #Afghanistan.
— Maria Finoshina (@MFinoshina_RT) 9 ноября 2018 г.
Alice Wells, deputy assistant secretary in the State Department’s Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs, was reported to have met with several Taliban officials in Doha, Qatar in July. Despite multiple media reports, the meeting was not officially confirmed by the US government, however.
The Moscow talks have been part of a separate diplomatic push aimed at “seeking ways to build an inclusive intra-Afghan dialog,” according to the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who opened the meeting on Friday. He also welcomed Taliban’s participation in the event by saying that it is an important step towards a direct dialog between the insurgents and the Afghan government.
The ‘Moscow format’ talks were a result of consultations between the diplomats from Russia, Afghanistan, China, Pakistan, India and Iran and were first held in 2017. Taliban joined the talks attended by the diplomats from the six countries for the first time. The meeting was also attended by the representatives of the Afghan High Peace Council – a body affiliated with the government and tasked with finding a diplomatic solution to the Afghan crisis.