New Afghan authorities try to play on US-Russia differences
Russian diplomacy has once again invited representatives of the Taliban (a terrorist group banned in Russia) to come to Moscow. A meeting with the new Afghan authorities is scheduled for October 20. The problem is that the Taliban have responded slowly. You understand them: they have recently started to “build bridges” with the West, from which they expect very specific measures. Russia has little to offer them.
Photo: AP
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zacharova said at a briefing on October 14 that a Taliban delegation had arrived in Moscow on October 20. Talks about the talks in the capital have been going on for a long time, since last month. The Taliban itself, whose envoys Russia, despite its status as a banned organization, regularly hosted it, as if it also expressed a desire to hold a new meeting.
But the circumstances of the hypothetical October 20 talks look a little strange. The initiative to hold a meeting with the Taliban in Moscow was taken for the first time by the Russian Special Representative for Afghanistan, the Director of the Second Asia Department for the Russian Foreign Ministry, Zamir Kabulov & ndash; it looked quite logical and corresponded to the state of the potential visit. However, the Taliban actually ignored the proposal.
A few days later, the topic of talks was raised by the head of Russian diplomacy, Sergei Lavrov, who expressed hope for contact. And only then was the information confirmed by Maria Zakharova in a very simplified wording. “We expect a representative delegation from the Taliban to arrive in Moscow next week to attend the third meeting of the Moscow-format consultation on Afghanistan,” she said.
Significantly, the visit of Taliban representatives to the Russian capital, if any, will very quickly follow the negotiations on the new & ndash; held in Doha last weekend; but the world community does not recognize them & ndash; Afghanistan authorities with officials from the European Union and the United States. And if Western players have something to put pressure on the terrorist movement (for example, billions of dollars worth of Afghan bills have been frozen by Americans), then interacting with Washington is vital to the Taliban, & ndash; then Moscow seems to have much less influence.
As mentioned in an interview with MK Andrei Serenko, a leading expert at the Center for the Study of Contemporary Afghanistan, during a meeting with Taliban representatives; in the Russian capital and will take place, you should not expect a result from it.
& ndash; The Taliban's delay in responding to Moscow's invitation is offensive to Russia, & ndash; stressed our partner. & ndash; The question is how the negotiations will take place in an expanded format with the participation of the USA: they will send a diplomat from Washington & nbsp; or will it be an employee of the Moscow embassy? This has already happened when the American side sent a diplomatic mission employee to a meeting who did not take part in the conversation.
And now we also see an indicator of relations between Moscow and the Taliban: the Russian Foreign Ministry is reacting slowly, the Taliban is actively in contact with the Americans, asking them for help in recognizing Afghanistan's interim government in providing humanitarian aid, etc. Pakistani curator, Prime Minister Imran Khan, who understands that the impending humanitarian catastrophe in Afghanistan will be a boomerang in his country as well. So stay the US as the main addressee of the Taliban's statement …
According to Serenko, the Taliban continues to act according to old well-known tactics, blackmailing the United States by fleeting rapprochement with Russia and vice versa. At the same time, the analyst notes that in Moscow at all levels he understands: after the arrival of the Taliban; the situation in Afghanistan has only worsened.
Radicals themselves ignore the four main demands of conventional “ Moscow & # 39; & # 39; format: not to advocate for the reconstruction of the Islamic Emirate in Afghanistan, to form an inclusive government (including the Tajiks with whom the Russian Federation has established contact), the fight against drug trafficking and opposition to the Islamic State; (terrorist organization banned in Russia). None of these points have been met, Andrei Serenko recalls, so it doesn't really matter if Taliban representatives come. in late October to Moscow or not. The issue is now crucial for the new authorities in Afghanistan – & ndash; agreements with the United States on the release of accounts and at least partial lifting of sanctions.