Despite disagreements, Moscow talks were ‘very successful’, says Taliban

Despite disagreements over women’s rights and demands for an Islamic constitution in Afghanistan, the Taliban has said that the Moscow peace talks were ‘very successful’, reported the AFP.

It was very successful. We agreed on many points and I am hopeful that in future, we can succeed further, and finally we can reach a solution, we can find a complete peace in Afghanistan,” Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai, who headed the Taliban delegation, told reporters in the Russian capital.

The extraordinary two-day gathering in Moscow saw Taliban leaders stand shoulder-to-shoulder with former president Hamid Karzai, who called the insurgents his “brothers” as both sides agreed to seek lasting peace.

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No government official was invited to the roundtable, which saw heavyweight Afghan politicians and other sworn enemies of the Taliban praying and dining with the militants.

It was the second time President Ashraf Ghani was frozen out of such talks in recent weeks, after the US held entirely separate discussions with the insurgents in Doha without Kabul.

The nine-point statement issued on behalf of all parties also agreed on the complete withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan.

A timetable for that exit was “not fixed so far… but we are negotiating this”, Stanikzai said.

All parties also agreed that the next round of talks should take place in Qatar as soon as possible.