KABUL - Russia has offered to host peace talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban, a media report cited the Russian foreign ministry as saying on Saturday after it hosted diplomats from the regional countries in Moscow.
“The third round of consultations on the Afghan issue was attended by representatives of Russia, Afghanistan, China, India, Iran, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan,” the Russian Tass news agency quoted a foreign ministry statement as saying.
This was the third meeting Russia has hosted in four months to push for political negotiations. “The US had been invited to take part in the consultations but it refused [to attend] for reasons unclear to us,” it added.
According to the Russian foreign ministry, ways and means to coordinate regional efforts for facilitating the process of national reconciliation in Afghanistan and bringing peace there topped the agenda.
“The parties [concerned] had a frank and thorough exchange of views on the current political and military situation in Afghanistan as well as on its prospects and expressed common concern over growing terrorist activities in the country leading to rising tensions and increasing violence which adds to the predicament of the Afghan people,” the statement said.
“The meeting’s participants stressed that there was no military solution to the Afghan crisis [and] the only way to resolve it was by ensuring a national reconciliation using political methods in accordance with the United Nations Security Council resolutions.” (Pajhwok)