Kabul will not be sending a delegation to Russia-led peace talks with the Taliban in September, the Foreign Ministry told DW. The Afghan government said only it can initiate a peace process.
Image: picture-alliance/AP/R. Gul
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The Afghan government does not plan on sending a delegation to the planned peace conference with the Taliban in Moscow on September 4, a Foreign Ministry spokesman told DW on Wednesday.
"A peace process can only be initiated and brought forward by the Afghan government," ministry spokesman Sebghatullah Ahmadi told DW's Dari and Pashto service in a telephone interview. "The government will not participate in any further meetings that are not led by the Afghan government."
Ahmadi emphasized that the Afghan government maintained good relations with Russia and would continue to do so in the future. However, Kabul could only support peace talks "if Afghanistan's interests are at the forefront," he said.
On Tuesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov announced that Moscow expects the Taliban to take part in the planned September 4 talks. The Russian government has invited 12 countries to take part in the Afghan peace conference.
The United States has already said it would not attend the conference, which will discuss the future of Afghanistan.
Russia threatened by spreading terrorism
Afghan politics expert Wadir Safi at the University of Kabul said he believes the Russia-led talks are aimed at preventing terrorism in Afghanistan.
"As far as the peace process is concerned, Russia does not want to be left out," Safi told DW. "They want to protect themselves by contacting the warring factions."
According to Safi, Moscow has maintained contact with the Taliban, a radical Islamist group, for years, in order to curb terrorism, particularly from the militant "Islamic State" (IS) group which has been spreading through several areas in Afghanistan.
Russia is concerned about the expansion of terrorist groups in Afghanistan, particularly due to the 1,300-kilometer (roughly 800-mile) border between Afghanistan and Tajikistan — a part of the former Soviet Union.
The Taliban has yet to officially announce if it will be sending a delegation to the peace talks in Moscow.
DW's Shakila Ebrahimkhil and Waslat Hasrat-Nazimi contributed to this report.
Endless battle for power in Afghanistan
Seventeen years after the US invasion of Afghanistan, the war-torn country remains in the grip of Islamist violence. A string of deadly attacks in the last year suggests militants are stronger than ever.
Image: picture alliance/Photoshot
Fragile security
Repeated attacks in Afghanistan in 2018 and 2019 have killed and wounded hundreds of innocent Afghans, and shown the world the fragile and worsening state of security in the conflict-stricken country. The incidents have plunged war-weary Afghan citizens into a state of despair and highlighted the limitations faced by the government in Kabul in ensuring public security.
Image: Reuters/M. Ismail
A long series of attacks
The violent incidents have made Afghanistan once again a staple of international headlines. Outfits like the Taliban and the "Islamic State" (IS) have claimed responsibility for the attacks. The Afghan government is under heavy pressure to restore security and take back territory controlled by a number of insurgent groups, including the Taliban and IS.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/M. Hossaini
Spring offensive
In 2018, the Taliban announced the start of their annual spring offensive, dismissing an offer of peace talks by President Ashraf Ghani. The militants, fighting to restore their version of strict Islamic law to Afghanistan, said their campaign was a response to a more aggressive US military strategy adopted in 2017, which aims to force the militants into peace talks.
Image: Reuters
Trump's Afghanistan policy
US President Donald Trump unveiled a new strategy for Afghanistan in 2017, vowing to deploy more troops to train and advise Afghan security forces. Trump also pledged to support Afghan troops in their war against the Taliban and maintain US presence in the country for as long as there was a need for it. In 2019, he reversed course and promised a troop pullout.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/B. Smialowski
Afghan peace process
Despite President Ghani's offer in February 2018 for peace talks "without preconditions," the Taliban had until 2019 shown no interest, dismissing the peace overtures as a "conspiracy."
Image: Getty Images/AFP/N. Shirzad
Pakistani support
Pakistan has been under pressure from Kabul and Washington to stop offering safe havens to militants blamed for attacks in Afghanistan, a charge Islamabad denies and insists that its influence over the insurgents has been exaggerated. Kabul and Islamabad regularly trade accusations of harboring the other country's militants and the harsh language has underscored the strains between them.
Image: DW/H. Hamraz
Role of the warlords
Apart from the Taliban, Afghan warlords exercise massive influence in the country. Last year, Hizb-i-Islami leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar returned to Kabul after a 20-year exile to play an active role in Afghan politics. In September 2016, the Afghan government signed a deal with Hekmatyar in the hope that other warlords and militant groups would seek better ties with Kabul.
Image: Reuters/O.Sobhani
An inefficient government
In the midst of an endless battle for power, President Ghani's approval ratings continue to plummet. Rampant corruption in the Afghan government and a long tug-of-war within the US-brokered national unity government has had a negative impact on the government's efforts to eradicate terrorism.
