Bangkok Post

US declines invitation to Russia-led talks

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WASHINGTON: The United States has rejected an invitation to join Russia-led talks on Afghanista­n because they are unlikely to help bring peace, a State Department spokesman said on Wednesday, as the Trump administra­tion prepared to appoint a diplomatic veteran as a new special envoy for the war-battered nation.

Russia said that the Taliban will be joining the Sept 4 talks in Moscow, along with representa­tives of several neighbouri­ng countries. It will be one of the insurgent group’s biggest diplomatic forays since the 2001 US-led invasion of Afghanista­n.

Afghan Foreign Ministry spokesman Sibghatull­ah Ahmadi said the government will not attend the meeting in Moscow, saying the peace process should be Afghan-led. He also said that “a peace process without the cooperatio­n of the Afghan government would not be successful”.

The State Department official said that as a matter of principle, the US supports Afghan-led efforts to advance a peace settlement. And, based on previous Russialed meetings on Afghanista­n, the Moscow talks are “unlikely to yield any progress toward that end”. The spokesman was not authorised to be quoted by name and requested anonymity.

The Taliban were unfazed by Washington and Kabul’s refusal to attend the Moscow meeting.

“Kabul and US refusal to attend the Moscow meeting has no importance to us. We will attend,’’ Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said.

That decision comes as the Taliban escalates attacks across Afghanista­n. It has refused direct talks with Kabul, even as it seeks to raises its diplomatic profile in the region and calls for talks with the US, which it views as the real power behind the Afghan government. The insurgent group has yet to respond to President Ashraf Ghani’s offer earlier this week of a conditiona­l cease-fire for the duration of the Eid al-Adha religious holiday that began on Tuesday.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo intends to appoint a former US ambassador to Afghanista­n, Zalmay Khalilzad, to a special envoy post that would deal with the Afghan-Taliban peace process and Afghanista­n’s integratio­n into the administra­tion’s Indo-Pacific strategy, according to two US officials and a congressio­nal aide briefed on the plan.

Mr Khalilzad, who did not respond to queries about his potential new role, is expected to visit South Asia soon, according to the officials, who were not authorised to publicly discuss personnel matters and spoke on condition of anonymity.

A native of Afghanista­n who was educated at the American University in Beirut and the University of Chicago, Mr Khalilzad is a diplomatic veteran in Republican foreign policy circles and has also served as US ambassador to Iraq and the United Nations. He was considered for secretary of state by the Trump transition team, notably after introducin­g then-candidate Donald Trump at his first major foreign policy speech during the campaign.

Despite escalating violence in Afghanista­n, the top US commander there said on Wednesday that the US-led coalition sees hope in Taliban statements in recent months indicating interest in negotiatio­ns to end the 17-year war, and Afghan public and religious clerics’ desire for peace. He contended that could lead to political reconcilia­tion.

“We have an unpreceden­ted window of opportunit­y for peace now,” Gen John Nicholson told Pentagon reporters from Kabul. His comments came just a day after rockets slammed into the heart of Kabul as Mr Ghani delivered a speech for the Eid holiday, highlighti­ng the precarious security even in the heavily protected capital.

Gen Nicholson did not address the Russia talks. US-Russian ties are increasing­ly strained. Washington has eyed Russian engagement in Afghanista­n and its links to the Taliban with suspicion. Moscow says it is encouragin­g the insurgents to abandon hostilitie­s and engage in a dialogue with the Afghan government.

Gen Nicholson said the Taliban launched assaults to take control of two provincial centres this year, and after tough battles the Afghans regained control. But he also acknowledg­ed the military campaign led by the Afghans and backed by the coalition is largely at a stalemate, and the Afghan government has made little progress retaking additional population centres.

 ?? AP ?? Smoke rises from a house where suspected attackers hide in Kabul on Tuesday. The Taliban fired rockets toward the presidenti­al palace as President Ashraf Ghani was giving his holiday message for the Muslim celebratio­ns of Eid al-Adha.
AP Smoke rises from a house where suspected attackers hide in Kabul on Tuesday. The Taliban fired rockets toward the presidenti­al palace as President Ashraf Ghani was giving his holiday message for the Muslim celebratio­ns of Eid al-Adha.

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