The Afghan government said on Saturday it would participate in two separate U.S.- and Russian-backed peace conferences in the coming weeks. The Russian-backed conference is scheduled for March 18, while the U.S.-sponsored one will take place in Turkey next month, officials said. Peace negotiations between the Afghan government and the insurgent Taliban in Qatar’s capital Doha have largely stalled. “The Afghan government will take part in both the Moscow and Turkey conferences,” Hamdullah Mohib, the country’s national security council advisor told reporters in Kabul. Mohammed Naeem, a spokesman for the Taliban, told Reuters it had received an invitation from Moscow but had not yet decided whether to attend or not. The Taliban has not made any comment about the proposed meeting in Turkey. It comes at a crunch time for the peace process as a May 1 deadline for foreign troops to withdraw from Afghanistan looms and the United States reviews its military commitments.
