Moscow Hopes US-Taliban Talks Suspended, Not 'Dead' - Foreign Ministry

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 10th September, 2019) Moscow hopes that the US-Taliban talks are suspended and not "dead" as US President Donald Trump described them, Russian Foreign Ministry's Second Asian Department Director Zamir Kabulov told Sputnik.

Trump said Monday, after calling off secret Camp David meetings with the Taliban and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, that the talks with the movement were "dead." Earlier in September, an explosion shook the area of Kabul where the US Embassy, NATO local headquarters and government buildings are located. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the blast, which killed, among other victims, two NATO personnel � one from the United States, the other one from Romania.

"We regret that the process is suspended. We still think that it is not dead but suspended. Emotions are running high, overboard on both sides, but we believe that at some point the sides will return and continue talking and finalizing the deal," Kabulov, who is also the special presidential representative for Afghanistan, said.

Moscow saw the potential agreement as "an important step that would pave the way to national reconciliation and consequent full settlement of the Afghan crisis," Kabulov said.

"So we expect that it will eventually happen," he diplomat said.