Mascow Hosts 2nd Round of Talks on Afghanistan

Russia is hosting a second round of talks on Afghanistan today (Wednesday Feb, 15) in Mascow, with Afghanistan representatives invited for the first time.

Afghanistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) on Tuesday confirmed that a representative from Kabul will also join the meeting which aims to stabilize and cooperate in the fight against extremism.

“The Islamic Republic of Afghanistan will take part in Mascow meeting. The Director General of Policy and Strategy for Ministry of Foreign Affairs will lead the Afghan delegation. Coordination among the  countries over the Afghan peace-process is the main topic of the meeting. These talks cannot be the alternative for the Afghan-led peace talks,” Shekib Mustaghni spokesman for the MoFA said.

The peace talks was announced by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on February 7, during a visit by his Afghan counterpart, Salahuddin Rabbani.

Afghanistan, China, Pakistan, Russia, Iran and India representatives are invited to the talks. The first round of the talks were held between China, Pakistan and Russia in Moscow in December.

Meanwhile, experts believe that talks without the presence of U.S. and NATO representatives will not have any result.

“The United States and NATO countries have a very strong presence and influence in Afghanistan. Lack of their presence in Mascow talks will affect negatively on any decision which is going to be taken on Afghanistan,” said Asadullah Nadeem a military expert.

The United States which is a key player in Afghanistan since 2001, has not been invited to participate in the talks. The exclusion of Kabul from the first round of talks raised concerns among Afghans and U.S. officials.

“If the participants of the talks make their sincere efforts, the session will have a positive result, but if they only work for the interest of their own countries then it will not have any result, same as the previous talks,” Mohammad Nader Afghan a political expert said.

Afghanistan is on the front-line fighting against terrorism and extremism on behalf of the world since many years. Sincere efforts by world powers and regional countries are required in the fight against terrorism to avoid Afghanistan from becoming the main-hub for international terrorists.

Reported by: Rafi Sediqi