Taliban Considers Recent Talks In Moscow Successful - Spokesman

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told Sputnik on Monday that representatives of the Afghan rebel movement's Qatar political office were pleased with the recent visit to Moscow and considered it successful

KABUL (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 16th September, 2019) Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told Sputnik on Monday that representatives of the Afghan rebel movement's Qatar political office were pleased with the recent visit to Moscow and considered it successful.

Mujahid said the talks were held with Moscow officials and that three main topics were targeted.

"There were three major objectives of the trip to Moscow; the assurance of cooperation of the respective countries in the peace process, the end of the occupation of foreign forces and the cooperation of economic and other sectors in the future," he said.

The Taliban spokesman added that they have plans to travel to other countries in the future and will discuss these three issues.

"The trip to Moscow was planned in the past, the trip was successful. Now we have the opportunity to meet with the Moscow officials, to go to other countries," Mujahid said.

Moscow has promised to cooperate in the peace process, to work on bilateral relations and to cooperate in the economic field, according to the spokesman.

Earlier in the day, Zamir Kabulov, the Russian president's special representative for Afghanistan, told Sputnik that at the meeting, the Taliban representatives said the group was ready to continue dialogue with the United States, but there is no date for a new meeting yet.

Afghanistan has been ravaged by war for decades but the Taliban and the United States, which is backing the government in Kabul, have been inching closer to a peace deal over the course of many rounds of talks. The final agreement has been put off indefinitely after US President Donald Trump called off a meeting with Kabul and Taliban representatives over an attack in the Afghan capital which left a US soldier dead.

Moscow hosted talks between the Taliban and a group of Afghan politicians earlier this year, but the Kabul government was not officially represented.