The US and Russia have agreed to explore options on securing travel waivers for Taliban negotiators to participate in talks on the Afghan conflict settlemnt, U.S. special peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad said on February 25.
According to Khalilzad , he discussed the issue of lifting the travel ban for Taliban leaders with Russian Presidential Special Representative for Afghanistan Zamir Kabulov in Ankara on February 22.
“Amb (Ambassador) Kabulov and I also discussed travel barriers to talks. We will explore options for securing UN travel waivers for Taliban negotiators to participate in peace talks,” Khalilzad wrote on Twitter.
According to experts, lifting the travel ban on some Taliban leaders could help accelerate the pace of ongoing negotiations. Last week, the Taliban-US negotiations were temporarily suspended because after the Afghan government protested to the UN Security Council that leaders of the insurgent group were violating travel restrictions under international sanctions.
A statement by the Russian Foreign Ministry said that the February 22 consultations were held upon request from the US side. Khalilzad and Kabulov discussed the consolidation of efforts to support the settlement of the Afghan conflict and the establishment of a framework to support the intra-Afghan dialogue. They also discussed a possible US-Russian cooperation to counter the ISIS threat in Afghanistan.
This development demonstrates that despite the existing contradictions, both powers are interested in promoting the settlement of the Afghan conflict.
Just remember who you are talking to Russia and the old adage “Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me !!!”.
US policy at this point is to try and negotiate peace deal with Taliban – via Pakistan – yet attempt to maintain US bases in Afghanistan as part of settlement. Seriously. That is how delusional Neo-Cons are.