Afghan presidential candidate to meet Taliban in Moscow

By Shadi Khan Saif

KABUL, Afghanistan (AA) – A leading Afghan presidential candidate, Mohammad Hanif Atmar, announced Sunday he will attend a meeting with Taliban militants in Moscow later this month.

In a series of tweets, Atmar, the former national security adviser to President Ashraf Ghani, said he would join a number of Afghan politicians to attend this meeting, which he described as an important step toward intra-Afghan talks.

During the pro-Soviet regime in Kabul in the 1980s, Atmar served the secret service KHAD with strong ties to Soviet Union's spy agency KGB. He left for the U.K. when the Mujahideen overran Kabul in 1992. He returned to join the interim administration following the fall of Taliban in 2001.

“The [Afghan] government should not look at the peace process through the ‘small window’ of government only, and should instead respect the role of politicians and the nation for peace and protection of the system and national institutions,” said the 51-year-old politician.

A number of Afghan politicians, including former President Hamid Karzai are set to meet Taliban representatives in Moscow next week.

The Kabul government which has been kept out of the meeting has stressed peace can only be achieved through direct talks.

This comes amid a recent push by the U.S. for talks with the Taliban and concerns in Kabul caused by fears of sudden withdrawal of foreign troops from the war-weary country.