MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 12th January, 2021) Moscow urges Afghan government and Taliban to move to meaningful negotiations for the national settlement, Russia's special presidential representative for Afghanistan, Zamir Kabulov, told Sputnik in an interview.
The second round of the intra-Afghan talks started in Doha on January 5 with the aim of achieving long-lasting peace in Afghanistan, after a three-week pause for consultations on a negotiation framework that was agreed upon in the first round of talks.
"As we understand, the full-fledged resumption of the intra-Afghan talks scheduled for January 5, did not take place. The contacts between the parties that met in Doha, were perfunctory. We should expect a continuation of the discussion on technical issues related to the agreed agenda. We continue to believe that the early completion of the preliminary stage of negotiations and the beginning of a substantive discussion of the problem of national reconciliation in Afghanistan is important," Kabulov, the director of the second Asia department of the Russian foreign ministry, said.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in November that Moscow was committed to promoting intra-Afghan talks in the "troika plus" format with the participation of Russia, the United States, China, as well as Pakistan.
The intra-Afghan peace negotiations began in September following the completion of a prisoner exchange process. Despite the ongoing talks, violence in Afghanistan continues, with clashes between Afghan forces and Taliban militants.
The Taliban previously said that discussions on a ceasefire should take place only after both parties have reached an agreement on the formation of Afghanistan's future government.
