Russia invites Taliban to Afghanistan conference in Moscow

Members of Afghanistan’s ruling group will be asked to attend October 20 talks, Putin representative says.

Russia will invite representatives of the Taliban to international talks on Afghanistan that it plans to host in Moscow on October 20, President Vladimir Putin’s special representative on Afghanistan has said.

Zamir Kabulov, the representative, did not provide further details on the planned conference in comments carried by Russian news agencies on Thursday.

The talks will follow a G20 summit on Afghanistan on October 12 aimed at helping the country avoid a humanitarian catastrophe in the wake of the Taliban’s mid-August takeover of power.