Uzbekistan to attend Moscow meeting with Taliban

Taliban’s political office head Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai will head a delegation to a meeting in Moscow next month, diplomatic source in Kabul said on Saturday.

According to local media, representatives from Russia, China, India, Pakistan, Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan will take part in September 4 summit.
The regional countries will hold discussions on ways to find a solution to the Afghan conflict. A similar conference was held last year when the Taliban were invited for the first time.

On July 16, 2018, President Putin’s special envoy to Afghanistan Zamir Kabulov announced that the Russian government would invite Taliban representatives to the Moscow meeting on Afghanistan before the end of the summer.

Kabulov justified Moscow’s decision to hold talks with the Taliban by stating that the militant movement controlled “more than half of Afghanistan’s territory,” and, therefore, must be included in an eventual peace settlement.

Two weeks ago, the Taliban delegation visited Uzbekistan. This week their Qatar office representatives went to Indonesia. Taliban have not yet commented on their visit.