Afghan Government Ready For Direct Talks with Taliban

The Afghan government are ready to negotiate with the Taliban anywhere if the talks are direct with the legitimate Afghan authorities. This was reported on by the TOLOnews on Thursday.

Afghanistan will not join the peace talks until the Taliban validates their commitment to enter into direct talks with the government,” the Afghan television channel Tolo News quotes the statement. “The government will participate in negotiations with the Taliban anywhere, but this should be direct negotiations “.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Afghanistan thanked Moscow for its attempts to create a peace process in Afghanistan but noted that the Afghan government expects that its regional and international partners will lay a foundation for an intra-Afghan dialogue.

The day before, Afghan Deputy Foreign Ministry spokesman Sibgat Ahmadi said that Kabul would not participate in the Moscow meeting on a peaceful settlement in Afghanistan. According to him, the Afghan government has not yet received an official invitation to the meeting.

For its part, the Taliban announced its intention to participate in the negotiations in Moscow. The is delegation will be headed by the head of the political office of the movement in Qatar, Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai.