Russia to Involve U.S. in Talks on Afghanistan

Russia is planning to involve the United States of America and Central Asian countries in a new peace dialogue which apparently aims to end the war in Afghanistan.

China and Russia have been concerned about the growing influence of Islamic State insurgency in the war-torn Afghanistan; therefore, the two countries are willing to play a role in Afghan diplomacy.

In December, Moscow hosted a meeting of high-level officials from Pakistan and China to discuss direct peace talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban.

There was no representative from Afghanistan in the first meeting which resulted in strong reaction by Kabul for being left out of the trilateral meeting.

Kabul reaction encouraged Moscow to invite representatives from Afghanistan, Iran, and India in the second round of meeting it hosted last month in Moscow.

The United States that is key player in Afghanistan was not invited in any of the two meetings.

Now Moscow says it will involve U.S. and Central Asia states in the third round of the dialogue.

“At its next stage we think it will be important to, in a timely fashion, involve in that same process our Central Asian partners as well as the United States,” said Vladimir Safronkov, the Russian deputy ambassador to the United Nations while addressing a U.N. Security Council meeting on the situation in Afghanistan, on Friday.

Russian foreign ministry have also announced that Afghan National Security Adviser Hanif Atmar will visit Moscow on March 17 for talks with the Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

“The officials will discuss the security situation and prospects for promoting national reconciliation in Afghanistan as well as ways to develop multilateral cooperation within the Moscow format of regional consultation on Afghanistan,” the ministry said.

Meanwhile, China envoy to U.N. has promised to cooperate with Afghanistan through the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and through the Quadrilateral Coordination Group, as well as other regional processes.

Wu Haitao, Deputy Permanent Representative of China to the United Nations who was speaking at the UN Security Council on Friday said that the international community must provide support to the Afghan forces to respond better to terrorism and must also steadfastly promote the Afghan-owned and Afghan-led national reconciliation process.

He also urged the international community to provide substantive assistance to help the Afghan government build up its capabilities.

This comes as earlier reports emerged about Russia support to the Taliban, but last week Afghanistan’s national security adviser who was speaking in an international conference in India said Russia must not use Taliban against the Islamic State.

Atmar emphasized that the best way to combat Islamic State militants is to cooperate with Kabul.

Reported by: Fahim Noori & Hesamuddin Hesam