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Afghan peace talks unlikely to achieve tangible results: Commentator

Friday, 09 November 2018 1:52 PM [ Last Update: Friday, 09 November 2018 1:57 PM ]

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (C) and representatives of both the Afghan government and the Taliban pose for a photo prior to international talks on Afghanistan in Moscow on November 9, 2018. (Photo by AFP)

The Afghan peace talks between the representatives of the Afghan government and the Taliban in the Russian capital Moscow are a step forward but they are not expected to achieve tangible results, says a political commentator.

“This is the first time you get all these different people, some of them are directly representing like the Afghans, are not direct representatives in the Afghan government but they are official appointees and that is quite an achievement, really it is. I think we have to pause and think over it but not raise our expectations because they are not talking about peace, they're talking about talking about peace. So I wouldn’t expect much to come out of this but it is a moving of the needle, it really is, and the thing about it is that it is Russia doing it,” Fred Weir told Press TV in an interview on Friday.

Multilateral talks on Afghanistan peace opened in Moscow on Friday with the participation of the Taliban and the Afghanistan High Peace Council (HPC), which is said to be representing the Kabul government.

Russia invited 12 countries and the Taliban to attend the talks aimed at restoring peace to the war-torn state, but the United States and the Afghan government declined to send official delegations to Moscow.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani rejected the invitation on the grounds that talks with the Taliban should be led by the Kabul government. But the High Peace Council, a government body overseeing peace efforts, attended the talks with four representatives.

This is the first time that a Taliban delegation is taking part in such high-level international meeting, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Thursday.

The Friday talks are the second meeting of the Moscow-format consultations at the level of deputy foreign ministers and special envoys.