MOSCOW: A Taliban delegation on Friday attended an international diplomatic conference in Russia for the first time, in a move that underscored Moscow’s keenness to play a role in the Afghan peace process, but the Kabul government sent no official representative.

Instead, members of Afghanistan’s High Peace Council, a body which oversees peace efforts but does not represent the government, attended the event, where they repeated President Ashraf Ghani’s offer of peace talks without preconditions.

Western officials and Mr Ghani’s government view the Moscow meeting with some suspicion, seeing it as an attempt by Russia to push its way into a process that they say must be led by Afghanistan.

Pakistani delegation highlights Islamabad’s peace efforts at conference on Afghanistan hosted by Russia

“We discussed the subject of direct talks with the Taliban and asked them to choose the place and the starting time,” said Ehsan Tahiri, High Peace Council spokesman, according to Russia’s RIA news agency.

No such agreement has been reached so far, he added.

The Taliban delegation reiterated its demand for the withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan where they support the Kabul government.

RIA quoted Muhammad Sohail Shaheen, spokesman for the Taliban’s political office, as saying that before starting talks with the Kabul government, “the issue of the presence of external forces” needed to be addressed.

The head of the Taliban delegation, Mohammad Abbas Stanekzai, said they were not ready for direct talks with the Kabul government and would negotiate with the United States instead, according to the Interfax news agency.

The meeting took place as US special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad prepared for a fresh round of talks with Taliban officials in Qatar.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said that “we reaffirm our position on the lack of alternative to a political settlement in Afghanistan and the need for active coordinated efforts by Afghanistan’s neighbouring countries and regional partners”.

As well as the five-member Taliban delegation, Russia brought to the meeting several senior Afghan political figures, including some who have clashed with Mr Ghani in the past.

The Taliban issued a statement this week saying the conference was “not about negotiating with any particular side”. It said the meeting was “about holding comprehensive discussions on finding a peaceful solution to the Afghan quandary and ending the American occupation”.

Pakistani team

The Pakistani delegation to the conference was led by Additional Secretary (Afghanistan and West Asia) Mohammad Aejaz, said a statement issued by the Foreign Office in Islamabad. Senior officials from China, Iran and Central Asian Republics also participated in the meeting. It was the first meeting of the Moscow Format, which was initiated in late 2016 and whose membership has increased to 11 countries.

At the meeting, the Pakistani delegation highlighted Pakistan’s positive approach and consistent efforts to promote peace and reconciliation in Afghanistan through initiatives acceptable to the entire Afghan nation.

The delegation noted that the phrase “Afghan-owned, Afghan-led” peace process, coined by Pakistan several years ago, had now been adopted as an international guiding principle in charting the way to achieving peace and reconciliation in Afghanistan.

The Pakistani officials pointed out that the stakeholders had a shared responsibility to help create favourable conditions for a result-oriented peace process as there was no military solution to the Afghan issue. Only a political settlement, fully cognisant of the hard socio-cultural, political and economic realities of Afghanistan, could restore peace in the country.

All the delegations at the talks thanked the Russian government for its initiative and the hospitality extended to them.

Published in Dawn, November 10th, 2018