Moscow Hopes Afghan Political Crisis To Have No Impact On US-Taliban Deal Signing

Moscow Hopes Afghan Political Crisis to Have No Impact on US-Taliban Deal Signing

Russia hopes that the crisis in Afghanistan, which emerged over results of the presidential election, will not jeopardize the signing of a peace deal between the United States and the Taliban movement, Zamir Kabulov, the head of Russian Foreign Ministry's Second Asian Department, told Sputnik on Friday

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 21st February, 2020) Russia hopes that the crisis in Afghanistan, which emerged over results of the presidential election, will not jeopardize the signing of a peace deal between the United States and the Taliban movement, Zamir Kabulov, the head of Russian Foreign Ministry's Second Asian Department, told Sputnik on Friday.

Earlier in the day, the United States announced that it was planing to finalize a peace deal with the Taliban on February 29 as a step toward intra-Afghan talks.

"This will have negative effect but I hope that it will not interfere with the [peace deal] signing," Kabulov said.

Afghanistan held a presidential election on September 28. The vote was conducted under a tightened security regime as the Taliban had threatened to upset the electoral process. Earlier in the week, President Ashraf Ghani was declared the winner.