Representatives of the Taliban will take part in talks in Moscow next month on the future of Afghanistan, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Tuesday.
“The initial response is positive – they plan to take part in this meeting. I hope it will be productive,” he told reporters in the southern Russian city of Sochi.
Moscow has taken an increasingly active role in efforts to persuade the Taliban to enter into a political settlement with the US-backed Afghan government, with which it has been in a lengthy conflict with.
Last week, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani offered a month long ceasefire with the Taliban, as officials in Kabul and Washington push for an end to the war which has stretched on since the US invasion in 2001.
“We remain ready to support, facilitate, and participate in direct negotiations between the Afghan government and the Taliban. There are no obstacles to talks. It is time for peace,” US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said after Ghani’s comments.
The Taliban has yet to respond to the ceasefire offer, nor is there any guarantee that such a ceasefire would stop attacks. On Tuesday, mortars were fired at the green zone area, located close to the Presidential Palace in Kabul as Ghani was holding a ceremony to mark the start of Eid.
Those attacks were linked to the Afghan wing of the so-called Islamic State, which has increased activity in the country in recent months and claimed credit for a string of deadly attacks.