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Russia to Host Conference on Afghanistan

Ayesha Tanzeem

   ISLAMABAD - Russia has sent invitations to leading Afghan politicians,
   the Taliban, and envoys of the United States, China, and Pakistan to
   participate in a three day conference starting March 18 on how to
   facilitate the peace process in Afghanistan.

   The proposal was first floated by the Russian Special Envoy on
   Afghanistan Zamir Kabulov in an interview with the Russian Sputnik news
   agency last month.

   Saying that the Doha peace negotiations seemed to have come to a
   standstill, Kabulov told the agency that his government had taken the
   Americans on board for a Moscow meeting.

   "[W]e have another mechanism, which has emerged over the past 2 years,
   by the way, at the initiative of the Americans, and which we have
   supported - to form a small group of the states most influential on the
   Afghan processes, which, besides Russia, the USA and China, include,
   naturally Pakistan and Iran," he told Sputnik.

   Kabulov said Iran was hesitant to sit at the table with the Americans
   due to diplomatic differences but he was hopeful its position would
   change.

   Afghan Foreign Minister Mohammad Hanif Atmar said his government was
   deliberating whether to attend the conference in Moscow.

   Faraidoon Khwazoon, the spokesman of Afghanistan's High Council for
   National Reconciliation (HCNR) also said the invitation was under
   consideration.

   Dmitriy A. Zhirnov, the Russian ambassador in Kabul, has met several
   Afghan leaders, including Abdullah Abdullah and Hamed Karzai in past
   weeks.

   Meanwhile, United Nations spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said the
   international agency had not yet received a formal request from the
   U.S. to convene a foreign minister level conference on Afghanistan.

   "We've seen it because it was in the media, but we have... as far as
   I've checked, we have not received the letter officially," he said.

   However, he added that the U.N. was ready to "support any effort to
   reach a peaceful resolution to the conflict, and we stand ready to
   assist, if so requested by the parties."
   U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken delivers remarks at the State
   Department in Washington, March 3, 2021.

   In a letter to Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, obtained by VOA last
   Sunday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the U.S. would ask
   the United Nations to "convene foreign ministers and envoys from
   Russia, China, Pakistan, Iran, India, and the United States to discuss
   a unified approach to supporting peace in Afghanistan."

   Those were the countries, according to the U.S. secretary of state,
   that had to work together for a chance at successfully resolving
   Afghanistan's conflict.

   The multiple simultaneous efforts to jumpstart a stalled peace process
   come under the shadow of a looming deadline of May 1, when, under a
   deal the U.S. signed with the Taliban in February 2020, the U.S. is
   supposed to withdraw all foreign forces from Afghanistan.

   Many, including Secretary Blinken as per his letter, fear such a move,
   under the current security situation in Afghanistan, would mean the
   Taliban might make swift territorial gains.

   Many in Afghanistan fear a repeat of the 1990s when, after the Soviet
   withdrawal and a collapse of the government, civil war engulfed the
   country, killing thousands and damaging the capital, Kabul, with
   repeated attacks.

   The administration of President Joe Biden is reviewing the deal signed
   by the former administration of President Donald Trump, but has said
   that all options, including the complete withdrawal of its forces from
   Afghanistan, are still on the table.

   Many Afghanistan experts say that if the U.S. unilaterally decides to
   stay in Afghanistan after May 1st, the Taliban would consider it a
   breach and may start the war against the U.S. again. After last year's
   deal, the Taliban stopped attacking U.S. and NATO forces in the
   country.

   U.S. peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad was in Qatar last weekend to meet the
   Taliban and the group's spokesman said he shared with them a proposal
   to take the peace process forward that includes setting up a
   transitional government in Afghanistan that includes the Taliban.

   President Ghani and his senior officials have rejected the idea of a
   transitional government, saying the only way to change a government in
   Afghanistan is through elections.