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KABUL: The Russian Federation on Friday said it welcomed the statement by the Taliban group regarding the continuation of peace talks with the United States, which has called off the peace talks and scrapped a peace deal agreed upon with the group ‘in principle’.
The country’s Foreign Ministry Spokesperson, Maria Zakharova, during a press briefing commented on the prospects of a peace settlement in Afghanistan. She cited the consistent requests of media outlets as a reason to share the country’s views in the context of the US administration’s decision to discontinue talks with the Taliban.
“We hope that the current pause will not undermine the long-term efforts of the sides and the substantial progress achieved at the talks in Doha on a peace settlement in Afghanistan.”
She said her country welcomed the Taliban group’s statement on its willingness to continue the dialogue with the US. “As before, we believe there is no alternative to a political and diplomatic approach to settling the crisis in Afghanistan,” the foreign ministry spokeswoman maintained.
“We urge the sides to resume talks as soon as possible with a view to reaching and signing a peace agreement. We are convinced that the complete end to foreign military presence is an inalienable condition of durable peace in Afghanistan,” she concluded.
This comes as the Taliban group issued a statement four days ago stating that they were “committed to continuing negotiations till the end if a political settlement is chosen instead of war.”
The statement further added that the group had “ its own policy and a firm stance. We called for talks 20 years ago and the stance is the same today.”
Taliban issued the statement after US President Donald Trump called off peace talks with the group on Sunday, following a series of deadly attacks in Kabul which killed scores of people, including an American service member.
Meanwhile, President Trump on Wednesday issued fresh warnings to the insurgent group after the cancellation of the peace talks and deal, emphasizing that the strikes against the group would ‘continue’ and would hit them harder than ever before.
