Fri. Mar 29th, 2024

The Taliban has said on Sunday it will send official delegations to Russia to hold a rare meeting with the Afghanistan opposition leaders, few days after Afghan peace talks with the special representatives of the United States that has excluded the Kabul government.

According to VOA news reports, the two-day official visit to Russia, starting on Tuesday, will be attended by Afghanistan’s President Ashraf Ghani’s political rivals – former warlord Atta Muhammad Noor and former Afghan president Hamid Karzai –  though none of the envoys has been tasked with the Taliban negotiations. Haneef Atmar, who is running against Ghani will also attend the meeting in Moscow.

On Sunday, Noor said the meeting was “a pathway towards strengthening the peace efforts led by the US” while Atmar described it as “an important step towards intra-Afghan peace talks”. However, Atmar described it as “an important step towards intra-Afghan peace talks”.

The so-called “intra-Afghan peace meeting” in Moscow came days after the US reported several “significant” progress over the ongoing talks with the Taliban insurgents, though the Afghan government has been excluded.

Earlier, the Taliban has repeatedly expressed their refusal to hold talks with Ghani’s administration, calling them American “puppets”.

Amrullah Shah, who will run as Afghan’s vice president in July, said, “It shows the peak of depression, and begging ton terrorists.” On his Facebook page, he wrote on Sunday: “A smile to the enemy is a blow to the national spirit.”

A Taliban spokesperson has confirmed the VOA on Sunday, a delegation team from Qatar “political office” will visit Moscow for two days to hold talks with senior insurgent negotiator Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai.

However, in a statement, the Russian embassy in Afghanistan has further clarified that the meeting has been arranged by the Russian based “council of Afghans society” in order to promote peace in war-torn Afghan country.

Afghan political delegation of a 38-member team, consisting of prominent former official leaders, lawmakers, presidential candidates, tribal elders and critical of Ghani’s national unity government.

The Taliban leaders have been scheduled to hold Afghan peace talks in Doha on February 25 with the US government.

On Sunday, Ghani told Afghan commandos in Kabul: “Even if I have one drop of blood in my body, I am not going to surrender to a temporary peace deal. Our goal is to have a peace that comes with dignity.”

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