WASHINGTON: The State Department has said that the American ambassador to Kazakhstan will represent the United States at international talks on Syria set for Monday in the Kazakh capital.

The talks are being sponsored by Russia and Turkey. The invitation for the US to be an observer came from Russia’s ambassador in Washington in a telephone call with Michael Flynn, the new White House national security adviser.

That call took place on Dec 29 the same day the Obama administration levied sanctions on Russia in relation for election-related hacking in the 2016 White House campaign.

The talks are seen as a prelude to a new round of UN-led negotiations in Geneva next month between the Syrian government and the opposition.

The US envoy in Kazakhstan is George Krol, a career foreign service officer.

Published in Dawn, January 22nd, 2017