Russia has hosted a peace conference in Moscow just 2 months before the deadline for United States to bring back its military troops that have been in Afghanistan for 20 years. Russia hosted this meeting, bringing together Afghani government officials, representative of Taliban, and international observers in an attempt to help speed up the stalled peace process of Afghanistan.
One-day talks was first of three planned conferences before May 1, a deadline for final withdrawal of the US and NATO military troops from Afghanistan. The date was fixed for the withdrawal in a year-old agreement between Taliban and Trump administration. This talk came after negotiations between Afghan government and Taliban have stalled in Doha, a capital of Qatar.
The Moscow talks included the US representative Zalmay Khalilzad, along with officials from other few nations. White House has embraced role of Russia in the Afghan negotiation by forming unexpected partnership on this long-lasting issue. All the representative in the summit urged the Afghan government and the Taliban to come to an immediate ceasefire as a part of the joint settlement.
Joe Biden’s administration is currently figuring out whether it would be possible to pull back all the US military troops from Afghanistan by the given deadline. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said he hopes the Moscow conference will help to create conditions for achieving progressive inter-afghan relations, warning that “further delays are unacceptable.”
Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar. the co-founder of Taliban, said, “Afghans should be left to their own fate.” The talks in Moscow come as the security in Afghanistan continues to deteriorate and many Afghani officials and security forces have lost their life in helicopter and road attacks. The Russia-backed plan to establish the interim government in the country received a skepticism. In the end of summit, all other parties added that Afghans should reach a deal as soon as possible that would bring an end to over a four decades of war in the country.
