On Thursday, 22 November 2018, the Afghan Institute for Strategic Studies (AISS) hold a roundtable discussion on the recent Moscow-Format Conference. Distinguished academics, Diplomats, civil society members, and media representatives attended the event. The program was aimed to discuss the latest Moscow-Format Conference, which was held in the Russian Federation and some of the Taliban representative, Afghanistan High Peace Council members and some of the regional countries attended it.
At the beginning of the programe, Prof Nikolay Poltnikov, the Head of the Center for Scientific and Analytical Information of Russian's Institute for Oriental Studies said: “The Moscow-Format Conference on peace in Afghanistan invited much ethnic balanced delegation from Afghanistan. There is a unity among ethnic groups in Afghanistan with regard to peace”. Mr. Poltnikov concluded that “unfortunately the US did not participate in Moscow Conference on peace in Afghanistan and only sent a diplomat as an observer”. He mentioned that “the US does not consider the concerns and interests of regional countries such as Pakistan and Russia in the peace process in Afghanistan”. He emphasized that “Russia's stance on peace in Afghanistan is that Taliban negotiate directly with the government of Afghanistan without the meddling of others” and he also pointed out that, “Peace in Tajikistan is the best example on how there is a peaceful solution to the conflict that Afghanistan can learn from it”.
The second speaker was Mr. Attaur Rahman Salim, member of Afghanistan High Peace Council. He expressed his viewpoints about the activities of peace council and added that “the High Peace Council has made efforts during the last year to convince Taliban to stop fighting and accept negotiation”. He mentioned that “Afghanistan Ulema at different level declared that conflict in Afghanistan doesn’t have legitimacy”. Mr. Salim mentioned that “Afghanistan high peace council participated in Moscow Conference on peace in Afghanistan with four delegates. Our council did not present any precondition for peace in Afghanistan”. He finalized his speech with this remarks, that “the Taliban speech at Moscow conference had three parts: first was for their internal consumption such as occupation. Second, on behalf of other countries presented those countries’ concerns on Afghanistan issues and third, proposal on the future political system in Afghanistan”.
The last speaker was Mr. Khalil Roman, a civil society activist, who said that “we have faced two forms of relations from our neighboring countries: first, state to state relations. Second, contact of the neighboring countries with non-state actors such as terrorist groups. It has been said that Taliban receives arms through Pakistan, Iran, and Russia”. Mr. Roman mentioned that “as Russia is competing with the US at international level, Russia initiative on the peace process in Afghanistan has created a bipolar peace process”. He reminded that “Russian stance with regard to Taliban is not for the benefit of our region in the long-run. Russia should support a uniform consensus on the peace process through the government of Afghanistan, instead of initiating a parallel process”.
The event ended with the Q&A session، including interventions by the Deputy Russian Ambassador to Afghanistan who clarified a number of issues raised by the audience.