The Afghan government expressed concern over a third high-level meeting on the country held in Moscow on December 27 between Russia, China, and Pakistan that did not include any Afghan representatives.
Associated Press noted that Afghan Foreign Ministry spokesman Ahmad Shekib Mostaghni said his government was not invited and hasn't been briefed on the agenda. He said this approach, regardless of the good intentions of the participants, would not help the situation in Afghanistan, where the government has been at war with the Taliban for more than 15 years.
Russia, China and Pakistan bowed to Afghan complaints Tuesday, announcing after talks in Moscow that Kabul will be invited to participate in future meetings on the threat posed by Islamic State militants in Afghanistan, according to Reuters.
The three nations reportedly also said they were interested in facilitating peace talks between the Afghanistan government and the Taliban.
Participants in Tuesday's meeting said it was the third session of their trilateral "working group" on Afghanistan. In a joint statement released by Pakistan after the talks, they expressed "particular concern" over "increased activities of the extremist groups including the ISIL (Daesh) affiliates in the country." ISIL is another acronym for IS.
The statement said Beijing, Islamabad and Moscow had agreed to continue their consultations in an expanded format and would welcome the participation of Afghanistan. The group previously suggested it might include Iran in future talks.
"The participants agreed to continue their efforts towards further facilitating the Afghan-led, Afghan-owned peace and reconciliation process in Afghanistan according to the known principles of reintegration of the armed opposition into peaceful life," the statement said.
Reuters reports that the United States, which still has nearly 10,000 troops in Afghanistan and has been fighting the Taliban with Afghan forces since 2001, also was not invited to the Moscow talks.
Officials in Kabul and Washington reportedly say Russia has been deepening its ties with Taliban militants, though Moscow has denied that.
