Russia Shares Kabul's Concerns Over US-Taliban Talks

Moscow supports Kabul’s position that peace efforts in the war-torn country should be led by the government of Afghanistan, instead of the United States, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Wednesday. The Afghan government earlier on Wednesday suspended security talks with Washington over a dispute regarding the opening of a Taliban representative office in Doha, Qatar, on Tuesday. The office is expected to host direct talks between the Islamist insurgents and US officials. “In respect to the opening of the Taliban office in Qatar on June 18, we affirm that the Russian Federation is consistently supporting the efforts of the Afghan government aimed at the success of the national reconciliation process and the creation of conditions for long-term stabilization in the country and the region, including through the dialogue between the High Peace Council and representatives of the armed opposition,” the ministry said in a statement. Moscow reiterated that a peace dialogue in Afghanistan could have a positive outcome only if the process were led by the government in Kabul and on condition that the Taliban severed ties with al-Qaida, ended the violence and accepted Afghanistan’s constitution, including its protections of women and minorities. The High Peace Council is the government body in charge of leading peace efforts with the Taliban. Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who opposes bilateral US-Taliban talks, said Wednesday that the High Peace Council would "neither attend nor participate in the talks" until the process was "completely" in the hands of Afghans. Meanwhile, US President Barack Obama said during a visit to Germany on Wednesday that he always expected "friction" at Afghan peace talks, but expressed hope that “the process will proceed” despite the challenges. "Ultimately we're going to need to see Afghans talking to Afghans about how they can move forward and end the cycle of violence so they can start actually building their country," Obama said. The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) formally handed over responsibility for security in Afghanistan to the Afghan police and army on Tuesday. Despite more than a decade of war waged by Kabul and the ISAF against the Taliban insurgency, attacks by Islamist militants are still frequent in Afghanistan, showing that the insurgents are strong enough to try to return to power in Afghanistan once NATO troops leave the country in 2014.