KABUL - The Ministry of Interior (MoI) on Wednesday said Daesh militant group had been defeated in Afghanistan and the Afghan nation would decide about sanctions on Taliban.
MoI spokesman Siddique Siddiqui remarks during an exclusive interview with Pajhwok Afghan News come a day after senior officials from Russia, China and Pakistan met in Moscow to discuss Afghanistan’s security situation and peace in the country. However, Afghanistan was not invited to the meeting. 
It was a third round of talks among the three countries on the “deteriorating situation in Afghanistan”, particularly at the rise of the Islamic State (IS) group -- also known by its Arabic acronym Daesh.
The previous two rounds had taken place behind closed doors. The announcement of the latest talks irked Kabul, which questioned the effectiveness of a process on Afghanistan without its representation.
In a joint statement issued at the end of their trilateral meeting, the three countries said: “The parties agreed to proceed with consultations in an expanded format and would welcome the participation of Afghanistan.”
The three nations renewed their support for the reconciliation process in Afghanistan. “The participants agreed to continue efforts towards further facilitating the Afghan-led peace and reconciliation process according to the known principles of reintegration of the armed opposition into peaceful life.”
Russia and China confirmed their flexible approach to delisting Afghan individuals from the UN sanctions lists as their contribution to efforts aimed at launching peaceful dialogue between Kabul and the Taliban, the statement added.
However, Siddiqui said any decision about lifting sanctions on the Taliban should come from the Afghan nation.
He said delisting Taliban would be possible when the insurgent group shunned violence and stopped killing and joined the peace process.
According to Sidiqui, other countries couldn’t represent Afghans or discuss and take decisions on removing the Taliban from the black list.
The concerns expressed by the three countries regarding Daesh spread in Afghanistan were baseless, he said.
Sidiqui said the Afghan Security and Defense Forces had crushed the group and had confined it to a small area. The group’s infiltration has been brought to a halt.
Daesh was comprised of former Pakistani insurgents originating from Waziristan, who had earlier conducted destructive activities in the neighbouring country, he believed.
“Pakistan is trying to fool China and Russia in the name of Daesh and make the countries take decisions that Pakistan wants.”
The three-way talks in Moscow also came under criticism at both houses of Afghan parliament on Wednesday.
The lawmakers said the talks on Afghanistan were interference in the conflict-torn country’s internal affairs.
A day before the Moscow session, the MoI announced its opposition to the meeting and said such sessions were useless without Afghanistan’s participation. (Pajhwok)