Russia Expects To Hear About Results Of US-Taliban Talks At Washington Meeting - Official

Russia expects to hear from the United States the results of its recent talks with Taliban leaders during consultations that are due to be held in Washington on Wednesday and Thursday, Zamir Kabulov, the Russian special presidential envoy for Afghanistan and director of the Foreign Ministry's Second Asian Department, told Sputnik on Tuesday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 19th March, 2019) Russia expects to hear from the United States the results of its recent talks with Taliban leaders during consultations that are due to be held in Washington on Wednesday and Thursday, Zamir Kabulov, the Russian special presidential envoy for Afghanistan and director of the Foreign Ministry's Second Asian Department, told Sputnik on Tuesday.

"Let's see if our American colleagues tell us what they have achieved [during talks with the Taliban leaders] and what they expect. We need to come together with our regional partners within the Moscow format, to which the United States is also invited, to agree on how we help speed up the process of national reconciliation [in Afghanistan]," Kabulov said when asked about his expectations from the Washington meeting.

Asked whether a Moscow-format meeting on Afghanistan could take place in the near future, Kabulov noted that there was not enough material yet.

Landmark negotiations between the Taliban movement, one of the key warring parties in the Afghan conflict, and US officials kicked off in the Qatari capital of Doha in late February.

As of mid-March the sides managed to concede to a draft agreement on the Taliban's counterterrorism assurances and the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan that have been assisting national forces in their anti-terrorist efforts for almost 18 years for now.

Moscow also serves as a platform for consultations on Afghanistan. In early February, the Russian capital hosted an intra-Afghan meeting, although Kabul was not represented. Taliban leaders have vehemently refused to engage in direct talks with the Afghan authorities.

Earlier in March, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that Washington's Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad, who leads the US-Taliban talks, "periodically meets" with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov as well as Kabulov. He stressed that it was a "good thing" to stop competing and "unite efforts" and help the Afghans "start a national dialogue to end this conflict."