MOSCOW. Aug 21 (Interfax) - Representatives of the Taliban movement (banned in Russia) will make their first official appearance at an international meeting to promote a peaceful settlement for Afghanistan in Moscow on September 4, the newspaper Izvestia reported on Tuesday, citing Zamir Kabulov, the Russian presidential representative for Afghanistan and the director of the Foreign Ministry's Second Asian Department.
"The Moscow consultations will take place against the backdrop of a general political intensification of the movement, whose representatives have also held meetings in other capitals in the past few weeks. Moscow sent its first invitation to representatives of this movement when Russia hosted such talks on the situation in Afghanistan last year. The Taliban rejected it [the invitation] at the time, but has accepted it this year. Indeed, they will arrive on September 4," Kabulov said.
It is necessary to involve the Taliban in the peaceful settlement process even for that simple reason that this movement controls more than half of Afghanistan's territory, and, therefore, cannot be ignored, he said.
Izvestia also reported that the September 4 consultations on Afghanistan in the Russian capital will also involve representatives of Russia, China, India, Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan.
According to the newspaper, the Taliban has stepped up its contacts with representatives of other countries. In particular, the head of the movement's political office in Qatar, Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanekzai, visited Uzbekistan on August 7-10. According to the Afghan news agency Pajhwok, Stanekzai will also lead the Taliban's delegation to the upcoming meeting in Moscow.