Taliban Negotiators Arrive in Moscow Days After Trump Declares Afghan Peace Talks 'Dead'
Taliban Negotiators Arrive in Moscow Days After Trump Declares Afghan Peace Talks 'Dead' by Morgan Phillips – Fox News
A Taliban negotiating team arrived in Russia on Friday, less than a week after President Trump announced that peace talks with the Islamic militant group in Afghanistan were essentially "dead."
The trip, led by Mullah Sher Mohammad Stanikzai, was the Taliban's first international visit following the collapse of talks with Washington.
The Russian state news agency Tass, citing the Taliban's Qatari-based spokesman, Suhail Shaheen, reported that the delegation had met with Zamir Kabulov, Russian President Vladimir Putin's envoy to Afghanistan. A Taliban official confirmed the visit to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.
Russia has been accused of aiding the Taliban as a safeguard against a burgeoning affiliate of the Islamic State (ISIS) that has close ties to the Islamic Movement of Afghanistan, a militant group in Central Asia. Russia has stepped up its defenses in Central Asia and has claimed thousands of ISIS fighters were in northern Afghanistan
Moscow has twice this year hosted meetings between the Taliban and prominent Afghan personalities…