Afghanistan urges Russia to get Taliban to negotiating table

AVA- During his visit to Moscow, National Security Adviser Mohammad Haneef Atmar told reporters that Russia has “a significant role” in bringing the Taliban to the negotiating table, according to Bloomberg.
 
“If you have contacts with the Taliban, please use these contacts for promotion of peace talks. The Taliban should not be able to use such contacts for war,” Atmar told Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev.
 
Russia has confirmed that it maintains contacts with the Taliban. While U.S. and some Afghan officials have accused Moscow of providing support to militant group, Moscow has rejected the allegations saying its “limited contacts” with the Taliban are subject to the task of ensuring at safetiy of Russian citizens in Afghanistan and are aimed at encouraging the group to peace talks.
 
Atmar said that accusations of Russia’s support to Taliban are “the most sensitive issue”, though Afghan officials have no evidence it’s happening.
 
He also said that unproven claims of U.S help for Islamic State should also be checked.
 
Kabul has proposed to “Russia, Central Asia and our Western partners that we have a joint fact-finding mission to investigate, to see if there is any truth in such allegations,” Atmar said.
 
Atmar visited Russia to attend a meeting of security chiefs of Russia, Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.