A delegation from the Taliban (outlawed in Russia) has arrived at the President Hotel where the third session of consultations in the Moscow format will be held on Wednesday.
The delegation is headed by Deputy Prime Minister of Afghanistan’s interim government Mullah Abdul Salam Hanafi and includes a number of officials, including Foreign Minister Ahmadullah Muttaqi.
The Taliban representatives entered the building without comments for the media.
The third round of the Moscow consultations on Afghanistan has kicked off at President Hotel in the Russian capital, TASS reported.
The talks involve representatives of ten countries of the region, as well as a high-level delegation of the Taliban movement. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov addressed the participants at the start of the meeting.
The Moscow consultations were launched in 2017 based on a six-party mechanism involving the special envoys of Russia, Afghanistan, India, Iran, China and Pakistan. The first round of consultations, held on April 14, 2017, involved Russia, Afghanistan, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. The main goal is to facilitate the national reconciliation process in Afghanistan and efforts to establish peace in the country as soon as possible.
