USA, Russia, China and Pakistan for peace in Afghanistan

Agreement drafted ahead of US troops withdrawal after 20 years. Those present include former President Hamid Karzai and Mullah Abdul Gani Baradar. The agreement was signed by the four countries, but not by Kabul and the Taliban. Concerns about drug trafficking and the push towards an Islamic emirate. In 40 years, at least 1.5 million deaths.

Moscow (AsiaNews) - A few weeks ahead of US troops withdrawal from Afghanistan (next May 1, after 20 years of presence on the territory), a conference was held in Moscow on March 18 with all parties to the conflict and the representatives of the USA, Russia, China and Pakistan, seeking an armistice. On the Afghan side, the government delegation was led by former president Hamid Karzaj; the Taliban by one of the founders of the movement, Mullah Abdul Gani Baradar.

The final statement of the meeting reads "at this decisive moment, our four states are calling on the parties to begin negotiations and reach a peace agreement that will put an end to the war in Afghanistan, which has now lasted for over four decades".

Government forces and the Taliban are invited to de-escalate the level of violence in the country, and the military to refrain from attacks, which regularly occur during the spring-summer. The four mediator countries declare themselves ready for the political and economic support of Afghanistan, in the period following the hoped-for pacification.

Negotiations between Kabul and the Taliban had begun last September in Qatar, but had stalled due to the government's accusations against the rioters of doing nothing to stop the violence in the country. In Moscow, the largest possible delegations from the government and the Taliban intervened, giving the conference a high profile. The four mediator states also presented high level delegations.

The new Biden administration, with Secretary of State Antony Blinken, has decided this time to go all the way, aiming for a final stop in Istanbul, which should take place in April. The meeting in Moscow therefore had to eliminate the main obstacles to reaching the final agreement, and was organized by the special representative of the president of Russia in Afghanistan, Zamir Kabulov. The format has been called the "enlarged troika", adding Pakistan to the US-Russia-China triad.

Americans have always been rather sceptical about the Russians' efforts in settling the Afghan question, but this time they had to acknowledge the validity of the proposal. After some uncertainties, Zalmay Khalilzad, the US president's delegate for the Afghan question, also arrived in Moscow.

US State Department spokesperson Jalina Porter said that “we clearly see the challenges Russia is calling us to face; when there is the possibility of developing constructive relations with Russia in the interest of both, we are ready to work together ". And this, despite the fact that in the same hours the controversy between Biden and Putin broke out over the US president’s labelling his counterpart a “killer”.

The final resolution of the meeting was signed only by the four mediators and not by the parties to the conflict, but we are confident in the next solution to the question. Sergej Lavrov, Russian foreign minister, addressing the participants before the end of the meeting, recalled that "the representatives of the Afghan government and the Taliban had already met in Moscow in 2018, in the presence of delegates from more than ten countries".

Lavrov also complimented the presence of some women in the Afghan delegation. In his speech he noted that he was much more concerned about Isis's revival plans in the Central Asian region: "This raises fears for further development of the drug trafficking, which is the real threat to Afghanistan, for the whole region and for the whole world, sponsoring terrorist activities”. One of the fundamental points of the agreement proposed to the parties concerns the elimination of terrorist groups in the country.

According to the text, the mediating countries "do not support the restoration of the Islamic Emirate, and invite the government of the republic of Afghanistan to start a discussion on the political future of the country with the Taliban movement".

But this would be contrary to the stated goals of the Taliban themselves, who dream of the Emirate. Representatives of the Taliban declined to comment on this point in front of reporters, even though the Afghanistan.ru website reported a statement by Baradar saying peace in the country will only be possible "after the establishment of an Islamic system".

The sense of the delicacy of the moment was increased yesterday the US Defense Secretary, Lloyd Austin, who paid a surprise visit to Afghanistan, chatting with the president Ashraf Ghani. A few days earlier, President Joe Biden said it would be "difficult" to withdraw all American troops by May 1st. This slowness also meets the wishes of the Kabul government, which would like to maintain their presence as long as possible.

According to various humanitarian organizations, in more than 40 years (including the period of Russian occupation) the war in Afghanistan has caused at least 1.5 million deaths, hundreds of thousands of wounded and maimed, and over 4 million refugees.

• russia
• afghanistan
• usa
• pakistan
• china
• economy
• peace
• taliban
• al qaeda
• islamic state
• agreement
• drug trafficking