‘Taliban to meet Afghan opposition leaders in Moscow’

The Taliban will reportedly hold a meeting with some Afghan opposition leaders in Moscow, in a move likely to alienate the Afghan government, which is already excluded from talks between the militant group and the United States.

Media reports said on Sunday that the two-day meeting in the Russian capital would start on Tuesday and would be attended by some of Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s chief political rivals.

Speaking to AFP, a “senior Taliban official” described the meeting as non-political and “arranged by some organizations based in Moscow.”

Late on Saturday, the Russian Embassy in Kabul issued a statement on behalf of the “Afghan Society of Russia,” which said the group had invited “influential figures” to dialog in the President Hotel in Moscow.

“We are ready to play our role in bringing peace to Afghanistan,” the statement read.

Among those who have confirmed their attendance is Haneef Atmar, who is running against Ghani in elections slated for July.

Former warlord Atta Muhammad Noor and former Afghan President Hamid Karzai will also be attending the talks, according to AFP.

Noor said the meeting was “a pathway toward strengthening the peace efforts led by the US” while Atmar described it as “an important step toward intra-Afghan peace talks.”

A government-appointed council tasked to engage the Taliban said it was not invited to Moscow.

Amrullah Saleh, who is running as vice-president on Ghani’s ticket in elections, voiced frustration in a post on his Facebook page.

“It shows the peak of depression, and begging to terrorists,” Saleh said, adding, “A smile to the enemy is a blow to the national spirit.”

Sebghat Ahmadi, a spokesman for the Afghan Foreign Ministry said, “At this moment, we do not see the need for such a meeting.”

“We know it will not help Afghanistan toward reaching peace at all, so it’s little more than a political drama,” he added.

Ghani’s government has already been frozen out of the talks between the US and the Taliban, including six days of discussions in Doha last month.

The Taliban are scheduled to hold another round of peace talks with the US in Doha on February 25.

The Taliban militant group said earlier that the administration of US President Donald Trump “appears” to be “serious” in its negotiations with the group on bringing an end to the war in the Asian country.

“Even if I have one drop of blood in my body, I am not going to surrender to a temporary peace deal,” he said. “Our goal is to have a peace that comes with dignity.”