Russia advocates interim Afghan government with Taliban
Moscow, Mar 12 (efe-epa).- Russia Friday said it would support an interim coalition government in Afghanistan with the Taliban to speed up the peace process and end the decades-long conflict in the war-ravaged country.
“The formation of an interim, inclusive administration would be a logical solution to the problem of integrating the Taliban into Afghanistan’s peaceful political life,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told reporters at her weekly briefing.
Zakharova said it was for the Afghans to form the interim ruling combine and decide their future through negotiations.
The spokeswoman made the remarks after the United States last week proposed a roadmap to the Afghan government to “accelerate” the peace process with the Taliban.
The US suggestions included a “negotiated settlement” and an interim-government shared with the Taliban.
Kabul has already rejected the US plan put forward by Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
Russia is convening a peace conference on Afghanistan in Moscow next Thursday.
The meeting will be attended by the special representatives of Russia, China, the US, and Pakistan, as well as members of the Afghan government and the Taliban.
The meeting comes at a crucial time as peace talks between Kabul and the Taliban, which began last September in Doha, remain stalled without any progress.
The negotiators have only agreed on rules and regulations governing the talks. They are now trying to finalize the negotiating agenda.
On the other hand, there has been a spike in violence across the country in the recent months coinciding with the peace negotiations.
Participants in the Moscow meeting would discuss ways to “promote inter-Afghan negotiations in Doha, reduce the level of violence in the country and put an end to the armed conflict,” the foreign spokesperson said.
Turkey earlier on Friday said it planned to host negotiations between the Afghan government and the Taliban in April within the framework of the US peace proposal to jump-start the stalled peace process. EFE-EPA
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