Russian president Vladimir Putin's special envoy for Afghanistan Zamir Kabulov holds talks with the Taliban members in Moscow. The dialogue occurs mere days after the US President Donald Trump calls the negotiation process “dead”.
Russia has stressed the importance of renewing talks between the Taliban and the White House, as reported by the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs representative.
"The Taliban confirmed their willingness to pursue dialogue with Washington", the Kremlin stated.
Last Saturday, the Taliban announced its intentions to strengthen the insurgent group’s regional support. Aiming to make the US withdraw its troops from Afghanistan, the Taliban representatives plan to visit China, Iran and Central Asian states.
Earlier, Donald Trump’s decision to secretly invite Taliban representatives to his Camp David resort caused severe outrage in American society. The parties were expected to make a deal: the US would withdraw around 5,000 troops, while the Taliban would keep its extremist groups out of other countries. Last week, however, Trump announced his decision to cancel the talks.
"The Taliban has never been hit harder than it is being hit right now. Killing 12 people, including one great American soldier, was not a good idea. There are much better ways to set up negotiations. The Taliban knows they made a big mistake, and they no idea how to recover", the US president tweeted on Saturday, referring to the Kabul attack on September 5.
According to the Taliban spokesperson, "it was astonishing …. Because we had already concluded peace agreement with the American negotiation team. "
It is not the first time the Taliban visits Kremlin. For instance, the terrorist leaders negotiated with Russia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov earlier in May. Paradoxically, the Taliban is banned in Russia, and the group’s supporters are to be prosecuted. Ever since USSR, when thousands of young Soviet men died for Kremlin’s geopolitical interests, Afghanistan is of interest to the Russian Federation. Currently, Vladimir Putin attempts to establish control over the country.
The Taliban, in turn, aims to secure its influence in Afghanistan in light of the upcoming presidential election set for September 28. The election day was postponed twice due to fears of increased violence.
The US invaded Afghanistan after the deadly 9/11 terrorist attack in 2001, now stationing 13,000 troops in the country.