The Afghan government is ready to participate only in direct talks with the Taliban, TOLOnews television quoted a statement of the Afghan Foreign Ministry as saying on Thursday.
"Afghanistan will not attend a meeting where there is no commitment by the Taliban to enter direct talks with the government. The government would attend talks with Taliban at any location but that these would have to be direct talks," the statement read.
The Afghan Foreign Ministry thanked Russia for efforts towards a peace process in Afghanistan, but noted that the Afghan government expected its regional and international partners would pave the way for intra-Afghan dialogue.
According to the statement, the Taliban has defied the goodwill gesture of the Afghan government for peace.
On Wednesday, Afghan Foreign Ministry’s deputy spokesman Sibghat Ahmadi said Kabul would not participate in the Moscow talks on the settlement in Afghanistan. He said the Afghan government had not received an official invitation. Meanwhile Taliban said it intended to take part in the Moscow talks. The delegation will be led by head of Taliban’s political office Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai.
Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Thursday that the list of the participants in the Moscow conference on Afghanistan, due on September 4, is worked through, but the Afghan Foreign Ministry has not replied as of yet.
"As soon as we receive the official reply from Kabul through diplomatic channels concerning their participation, we will issue a commentary". The Foreign Ministry said 12 countries, including the US, had received invitations to the consultations. The US had refused, she said. Besides, the leadership of the Taliban’s political office was invited.
On Wednesday, Afghan president’s national security adviser, Hanif Atmar, asked Russian Ambassador to Afghanistan Alexander Mantytsky to put pressure on the Taliban, Pajhwok Afghan News said. Thus, Kabul expects that Taliban will agree for direct talks with the Afghan authorities.
The Moscow format involves representatives from Afghanistan, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, China, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The previous round of consultations was held in April 2017.
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