KABUL (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 02nd October, 2019) Moscow's initiative to host a new round of Russia-China-US talks on Afghanistan later in October and expand them by inviting Pakistan may become another contribution of Russian diplomacy to the peace process in the war-torn country, experts told Sputnik.
On Monday, the Russian presidential representative for Afghanistan, Zamir Kabulov, announced that Moscow was making efforts to host the "expanded troika" meeting on Afghan peace in October.
The meeting would likely be held at the level of the countries' special envoys for Afghanistan. According to the diplomat, the work on the initiative is under way, with no exact date set yet.
ATTEMPT TO BREAK STALEMATE IN US-TALIBAN TALKS
Peace process observer Faiz Mohammad Zaland is optimistic that the Moscow talks will give new impetus to the Afghan settlement, which stalled in September after Washington proclaimed its talks with the Taliban to be "dead" following the movement-claimed attack in Kabul that killed a US serviceman.
"Moscow in the search of regional politics has once again made its contribution to the peace process," Zaland told Sputnik.
He suggested that Russia aimed to use the new talks to encourage the United States to return to dialogue on Afghanistan and thereby prepare the basis for intra-Afghan reconciliation.
Following the collapse of the Taliban-US talks, Kabulov indeed pledged that Moscow would make efforts to facilitate the resumption of this dialogue as soon as possible.
The expert expressed hope that the US talks with the movement would ultimately restart and lead to a wider, intra-Afghan, dialogue.
Another analyst in Kabul also praised the format, which will bring the main regional stakeholders together.
"If these countries, which are participating in the meeting, want to bring peace to Afghanistan, peace will come because there are no internal or external measures that can be taken against these countries," Basharat told Sputnik.
According to Basharat, if the Afghan government and politicians are invited to these talks, they would undoubtedly join them.
Writer and expert Ershad Raghand, in turn, recalled that Russia maintained contacts with all parties to the conflict, repeatedly hosting a Taliban delegation in Moscow.
Russia has long been seeking to facilitate a peace process in Afghanistan. In May, for instance, Moscow used a conference marking the centennial of diplomatic relations with Kabul to hold another round of peace consultations between representatives of the Afghan public and various political forces, including the Taliban radical movement.
Those talks marked the second time that the Taliban leaders have met with prominent Afghan politicians in Russia. The previous intra-Afghan conference was held in Moscow from February 5-6. The Afghan government did not send its official delegation. Afghanistan's High Peace Council, a body that oversees peace efforts, attended the talks instead.
