Pakistan will attend the meeting on peace in Afghanistan that is expected to take place in Moscow soon, Pakistani officials said Saturday, Pakistan’s Daily Times reported.
The Daily Times reported that senior officials would represent the country – possibly the Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua.
Originally the meeting was scheduled for September 4 in Moscow, but Afghanistan refused to attend, stressing that any such discussions should be Afghan-led.
When the US turned down the invitation to attend, Kabul followed suit. This came after the Taliban announced it would send a delegation to Moscow from Qatar.
However, Russia’s Interfax news agency recently reported that the meeting would now take place on November 1 and that Kabul and the Taliban would both attend.
But Russia’s Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova said on Thursday that details including the date and attendees were still being worked on. She said no date had yet been decided on.
In August it was confirmed that Afghanistan and Russia would co-chair proposed talks in Moscow on Afghanistan’s peace, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) said.
Nasir Andisha, Acting Deputy Foreign Minister for Management and Resources said at the time: “Delegations from Afghanistan, the Russian Federation, the Central Asian countries and Afghanistan’s partners are working on a timeline and agenda for the meeting. We will determine the time based on a consensus.”
When asked about Afghan government’s opposition to the original plan, Andisha said: “It is not about who talks with the Taliban and how we react to it. The point is whether we can accept the fact that the Taliban attends (the talks) as a (single) party at a multilateral discussion where independent countries are attending?”
Officials from Afghanistan’s High Peace Council (HPC) said the Afghan government objected to the Moscow talks because the conference had been scheduled without their permission and without it being Afghan-led.
“All countries which have met with the Taliban have asked for Afghan government’s permission but the Russian’s case was no doubt different,” said HPC spokesman Sayed Ehsan Tahiri.
