Taliban Decides to Attend Moscow Afghan Peace Talks... Will the Deadlock Be Resolved?

All Related Countries Including the US, Afghanistan, China, and Pakistan Participate
Negotiations Stalled Ahead of May 1 Withdrawal Deadline... Will the Long War End?

[Image source=AP Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunwoo Lee] The Taliban, an armed group in Afghanistan, has expressed its intention to attend the international Afghan peace talks to be held in Moscow, Russia, drawing attention to whether this will provide a breakthrough in the deadlocked peace negotiations among the United States, the Afghan government, and the Taliban.

According to foreign media including AFP on the 15th (local time), Mohammad Naeem, the Taliban spokesperson, announced in a statement that they will send a delegation of 10 representatives to the Moscow Afghan peace talks scheduled for the 18th. The peace talks hosted by Russia are expected to include all parties involved in the Afghan peace negotiations, including the Taliban, the United States, the Afghan government, China, and Pakistan. Russia previously volunteered to mediate and held a similar multilateral meeting in November 2018.

This peace talk is expected to be an important breakthrough amid the ongoing difficulties in the trilateral peace negotiations among the United States, the Afghan government, and the Taliban, which have been taking place in Doha, Qatar since September last year. The U.S. side plans to send Zalmay Khalilzad, the special envoy who has been leading the Afghan peace negotiations.

The Doha peace talks have been stalled due to obstacles such as the release of Taliban prisoners, the continued presence of foreign troops in Afghanistan, and issues related to Islamic law concerning the new government system. In particular, the Taliban is demanding that the promise made under the bilateral peace agreement signed with the previous Donald Trump administration in February last year?to withdraw all U.S. and international allied troops by May 1?be honored.

However, NATO and other international allied forces have refused to withdraw, and the Joe Biden administration has yet to give a definitive answer regarding the extension of U.S. troop presence in Afghanistan, raising the possibility of a delayed withdrawal. Caught in a dilemma, the U.S. previously proposed through a letter from Secretary of State Antony Blinken to President Ashraf Ghani that the Afghan government and the Taliban hold high-level talks in Turkey to discuss ways to reduce physical clashes over the next 90 days.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.