US Pullout Unlikely To Create Vacuum In Afghanistan, Likely To Boost Peace Talks - Kabulov

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 23rd March, 2019) The withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan will not leave a vacuum, but rather will help advance intra-Afghan negotiations on the future of the country, Russian Presidential Envoy Zamir Kabulov told reporters on Friday.

"Many have concerns, by analogy with previous decades, that if the United States leaves Afghanistan, there will be a vacuum and war. The fact of the matter is that no," Kabulov said. "If events develop according to the scenario of the pullout of international forces, a ceasefire, there will be no war. The process of intra-Afghan talks about the future of their country. There will be no sense in fighting."

Kabulov was speaking after meeting with the US and Chinese special envoys on Afghanistan in Washington

The Russian envoy stressed the importance of the Taliban and the United States agreeing and succeeding in their talks.

Kubalov said that under President Donald Trump, the US had finally achieved an understanding of the need to withdraw its forces from the country.

"It should have come, because 18 years of being in Afghanistan with a negative result of course demanded this understanding," he said. "Of course, it's not very simple ... there is not a complete agreement here, but as we understand it, Trump is determined to reach a speedy solution to the problem."