FROM EIR DAILY ALERT

Russia Offers To Help to U.S. in Its Talks with the Taliban

Feb. 7, 2019 (EIRNS)—According to a RIA Novosti report today, cited by Reuters, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said Russia is ready to help the United States advance its negotiations with the Taliban on withdrawing its troops from Afghanistan. The offer was made yesterday after a Feb. 5-6 conference in Moscow, organized by the Afghan diaspora in Russia, attended by, among others, the Taliban and some non-government Afghan political figures including former President Hamid Karzai, Associated Press reported. Diplomat Zamir Kabulov, the Russian presidential envoy on Afghanistan, told RIA Novosti today that Russia is willing to assist the U.S. in talks with the Taliban on the withdrawal of U.S. troops, reported AP, but expressed doubt that the U.S. would pull out all of its troops.

The Afghan talks between the Taliban and the U.S. are expected to resume soon in Doha. Meanwhile, Nadir Naim, an Afghan politician, in a Feb. 6 article for Al Jazeera, said the key to the resolution will lie in understanding the Taliban of today and not the Taliban of 1995 when it took power in Kabul.

He emphasized that,

“to achieve sustainable peace, the Afghan government, with the help of the U.S., will need to strike a balance between acknowledging the needs and expectations of the Taliban and providing the necessary protections for segments of the Afghan population that feel threatened by the group.... An inclusive regional consensus is imperative; the U.S. won’t be able to do this alone if it wants sustainable peace in Afghanistan. Moscow, Beijing, Islamabad, Tehran, New Delhi and Ankara would all want a say in the final settlement.”