KABUL - The decision of the Taliban movement to take part in the Moscow format meeting on the Afghan settlement has led to the US large-scale operations against it in the northern Afghanistan, which enabled the Islamic State terrorist group (IS, banned in Russia) to mount an offensive in this area, Delawar Aimaq, a member of the Afghan National Assembly’s security commission from the Baghlan province, told Sputnik.

“IS militants have become very active in northern Afghanistan recently, rather than the Taliban, because the United States strikes the latter, but does not touch the former ones. The Taliban members are often offered to surrender to the Afghan government forces or persuaded to join IS, provide their assistance to it … Large-scale operations are now being carried out against the Taliban in northern Afghanistan because the Taliban agreed to participate in this [Moscow format] meeting,” Aimaq said.

Meanwhile, at least four IS militants were killed by a US drone strike in Afghanistan’s eastern province of Nangarhar, local police said Thursday.

The strike was launched by US-led NATO coalition forces’ pilotless aircraft against an IS hideout in Dih Bala district of the province, 120 km east of Afghan capital Kabul city, on Wednesday, the Afghan 202 Shamshad Police Zone based in the region said in a statement.

No civilian was injured following the strike in the remote area, the statement added. The mountainous province with Jalalabad city as its capital has been the scene of clashes between security forces and IS militants since the emergence of IS there in early 2015. The IS militant group has yet to make comments on the report.

KABUL READY FOR DIRECT TALKS WITH TALIBAN

The Afghan authorities are ready to hold direct negotiation with the Taliban movement without preconditions if talks are held within the framework of the Afghan constitution, deputy presidential special envoy for the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) Mohammed Ibrahim Tamil told Sputnik.

“The Afghan government has repeatedly stated that it is always ready for dialogue, for meetings. We do not have any preconditions, except one - these negotiations should be held within the framework of the Afghan constitution. We are ready for any direct dialogue, meetings with the Taliban, we are ready to listen to their demands and express our opinion on this matter,” Tamil said.

The number of participants of the upcoming Moscow format meeting on the Afghan settlement could be increased, deputy presidential special envoy for the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) Mohammed Ibrahim Tamil told Sputnik.

“The dates [of the meeting] will be agreed upon, and the composition of participants will be possibly extended. We hope that certain parts of the Taliban movement, which called for the participation, will also take part. The conference will be chaired by Afghanistan with Russia’s participation,” Tamil said.

According to the official, Kabul would welcome the United States or any other country to join dialogue with the Taliban and persuade them to sit at the negotiating table. Tamil stressed, however, that the negotiating process should be led by the Afghan people.

In a related development, the Russian Foreign Ministry’s team headed by the ministry’s Second Asian Department Director Zamir Kabulov will meet with the Afghan delegation headed by Deputy Foreign Minister Nasir Andisha. The parties will discuss modalities of Moscow format of talks on settlement of the Afghan conflict. In August, the consultations on Afghanistan in the Moscow format scheduled for September 4 were postponed following a phone call between Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

 

The meeting was reportedly postponed over the reshuffle in the Afghan government.