A political dialogue for peace in Afghanistan should include the Taliban and other regional countries, the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, said at an event in India on Monday, the Hindu reported.
 
Meanwhile, Afghanistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) has said that Russia is one of the key members of the Kabul Process and a friend of Afghanistan.
 
“Russia is a member of the Kabul Process and is one of the good friends of the Islamic republic of Afghanistan It is an influential country of the world. The final declaration issued by the foreign ministers of the Indian Republic, the Peoples’ Republic of China and the Russian Federation was in the interest of the Islamic republic of Afghanistan,” said MoFA deputy spokesman, Sibghatullah Ahmadi.
 
Lavrov said Russia had contacted the Taliban group to sit down for negotiations.
 
Addressing a gathering at a think-tank in India, he said the American strategy for defeating extremism and terrorism in Afghanistan was not viable as the military method of the last 15 years had not reduced violence in the country.
 
“You cannot resolve the situation without having everybody on board and around the table. The government of Afghanistan, the Taliban, and those who can influence the situation, including neighbors who feel the bad influence of what is going on in Afghanistan, needs a political solution,” said Lavrov urging a broad-based discussion covering all sides of the region and Central Asia.
 
He also slammed reported US allegations that Russia had been open to unconditional talks with the Taliban and had been helping the group with arms.
 
“Never ever was there any proof or fact that Russia supported the Taliban or armed the Taliban as alluded by some American officials. We have contacted the Taliban only for two reasons: when our citizens or citizens of our allies get into harm’s way and we have to extract them and the second was to persuade the Taliban to sit down and negotiate.
 
But we always say they must join negotiation provided they renounce violence, sever their links with terrorist organizations and respect the constitution of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan,” he said.
 
He also pointed out that the fight against terrorism and extremism in Afghanistan cannot be separated from the issue of drug trade which funds violence in the country and the region.
 
“The recent American strategy on Afghanistan, which emphasizes force, will not work just as the huge army of NATO over the last 15 years did not curb violence nor reduce drug production. It is accepted that it feeds terrorist activities directly,” he added.
 
But some Afghan critics have said the Afghan government and the US have no intention for peace in Afghanistan. However, the Afghan government says that the peace accord recently signed between the Afghan government and the Hizb-e-Islami group under Gulbuddin Hekmatyar indicates that the Afghan government is firmly committed to peace talks.
 
“We must clearly say that the government is not willing for peace, (US President Donald)Trump sends a message of war. His strategy talks about war and bombardment, the High Peace Council talks about peace. The first step for peace is that there should not be a message of war,” said Sayed Akbar Agha, a former Taliban official.
 
“The peace accord with Hizb-e-Islami indicates that the government is firmly committed on the peace process, unfortunately, the Taliban are unwilling to commit peace and this is a big problem,” said deputy CEO spokesman Jawed Faisal.