Taliban Talks Shift to Moscow with Possible U.S.-Brokered Deal on Table by Amie Ferris-Rotman – Washington Post
Members of the Taliban and key Afghan power brokers, including former president Hamid Karzai, discussed their vision for the future of Afghanistan on Tuesday, meeting in Moscow for talks aimed at ending the war.
The meeting shifted the fragile peace process from the United States, whose special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad declared a potential breakthrough with the Taliban just days ago. Moscow seeks to reassert its influence in the region and probably would want a role in shaping any possible peace plan.
But the talks, being held over two days in a hotel maintained by the Russian government, included no representatives of President Ashraf Ghani’s government, inviting fierce criticism from the U.S.-backed Afghan leader.
“A peace deal with the Taliban will not be implemented unless there is a nationwide consensus,” Ghani said, adding that any agreements made without the Afghan government were meaningless. “Let hundreds of such meetings be held.” …