KABUL – Russia has quietly invited a group of senior Afghan politicians totalks with the Taliban in Moscow, bypassing President Ashraf Ghani’sgovernment in a move that has angered officials in Kabul who say it couldmuddle the US-backed peace process.
The invitations, extended over the past two months by Russian diplomats inKabul, were confirmed to Reuters by six of the eight leaders, who includeformer Afghan President Hamid Karzai, or their aides, and by other leadingpoliticians with ties to the Afghan government.
The Russian Embassy in Kabul declined to comment.Russia in August proposed holding multilateral peace talks in Moscow andinvited 12 countries and the Taliban to attend a summit the followingmonth. But the meeting was postponed after Ghani rejected the invitation onthe grounds that talks with the Taliban should be led by the Afghangovernment.
The United States had also declined to attend. The US Embassy in Kabuldeclined to comment further.
Three senior Afghan officials said the government was unhappy that Moscowwas pressing ahead with plans for talks.
“We requested Russia to cancel the summit because talking to the Taliban atmultiple forums will further complicate the peace process backed by the US,but they rejected the request,” said a senior Afghan official who has beenholding discussions with Russia.
Russia’s foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said on Thursdaythat she hoped to be able to announce details of the conference “in thecoming days”.
Zakharova told reporters at a briefing that the date and participant listwere being finalised, but that Russia wanted to be absolutely sure beforeannouncing anything publicly.
Diplomatic engagement between the Taliban and the United States gainedmomentum in October after US special envoy for peace in Afghanistan ZalmayKhalilzad met Taliban leaders in Qatar.
But many Afghan politicians say they have been left out of the process.
Karzai, who ran the country for 13 years following the overthrow of theTaliban in 2001 but has become a vocal critic of US policy, is among thoseplanning to travel to Moscow.
“Karzai will travel to Moscow because any opportunity for peace talks withthe Taliban must not be ignored,” said Mohammad Yusof Saha, a spokespersonfor the former president.
Atta Mohammad Noor, a leader in the Jamiat-i Islami party and formergovernor of the strategic Balkh province, said he too would attend.
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Noor, a powerful figure among Afghanistan’s ethnic Tajiks who was once acommander in the anti-Soviet Mujahiddin, said he had no problem with theUnited States and Ghani holding private talks with the Taliban, “but theycannot decide whether we should talk to the Taliban or not”.
He said many Afghans were realizing that “a single fixed formula prescribedby one foreign power will not help Afghans attain peace”.
Senior Taliban members in Afghanistan said they would send a delegation toMoscow, as it would give them an opportunity to engage with neighbouringcountries including China, Iran, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan andTurkmenistan, who have previously said they would send representatives.
“Most countries have acknowledged our status and invited us as a separatepolitical force. This is, in fact, our victory,” said a senior member ofthe Afghan Taliban.
Moscow’s strategy of going around Ghani directly to opposition politiciansis a concern for the Afghan government and its US sponsors, who see it asunwelcome meddling, according to government officials and diplomats inKabul.
“Russia is trying to create its own regional table to hold peace talks,they are clearly attempting to limit the US role in Afghanistan,” said awestern diplomat in the Afghan capital.
The Moscow talks underline the increasingly active role Russia is playingin Afghanistan, decades after Soviet forces withdrew from the country, withbusiness investment plans, diplomatic and cultural outreach, and smallmilitary support for the central government.
In 2014, it reopened a cultural centre in Kabul. Since 2016, it hasprovided thousands of Kalashnikov rifles to the Afghan government, said asenior foreign ministry official in Kabul.
The talks come also at a time when the Afghan government is struggling torecover control of districts lost to Taliban insurgents while casualtiesamong security forces have reached record levels, a US watchdog agency said.
“It’s obvious that the situation in Afghanistan is not improving, that thethreat is growing and that the ground is ripe for radical Islamists orfollowers and participants of the Islamic State project,” said FyodorLukyanov, a foreign policy expert close to the Kremlin who edits the Russiain Global Affairs journal.
“The dynamic is negative. I think that’s why political and diplomaticefforts are being activated.” – APP/AFP
