TASS: Kabul Officials Will Not Participate in Moscow Meeting on Afghanistan

According to the TASS news agency, the meeting of the Moscow Format to discuss Afghanistan will take place in Moscow in mid-November.

Russia’s special envoy for Afghanistan, Zamir Kabulov, on Thursday said that no one from the officials of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan is invited to the meeting.

“The Taliban delegation will not take part [in the meeting], it is only for members of the Moscow format,” he said, answering a corresponding question.

It is expected that the representatives of Russia, China, India, Iran, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan will participate in the meeting.

Meanwhile, political experts consider it important to hold such meetings about Afghanistan.

“There are two reasons for not inviting the Taliban. First, the Taliban’s inflexibility; second, Moscow may have concluded that the Taliban are united with the United States and devoted to the same goals,” said international relations expert Sayed Javad Sajadi.

“The representatives of the current Afghan administration have not been invited. There could be a variety of reasons. Perhaps one of the reasons might be that the United Nations did not extend the travel exemption for the leaders of this government,” said Ghulam Sakhi Ehsani, university lecturer.

The head of the Islamic Emirate’s political office, Suhail Shaheen, said that in such meetings attention should be paid to the lifting of restrictions on Afghanistan and the recognition of the Islamic Emirate.

“Every meeting that is held on Afghanistan, our request for such meetings is that they give attention to the demands of Afghans, such as lifting restrictions, giving recognition, and resolving economic difficulties,” Shaheen said.

The previous meeting was held on October 20 last year. It was attended by a delegation of the Islamic Emirate headed by Abdul Salam Hanafi, deputy prime minister of Afghanistan’s current government.