The intra-Afghan meeting between the Taliban delegates and some Afghan politicians, which was held in Moscow for two days, faces criticisms and optimism.

Some of the political experts in Kabul said that both sides of the negotiators did not have the authority of making decisions on peace and ceasefire.

“We should not ignore the ceasefire if we want the peace process between us and the Taliban to have a serious outcome,” said Farkhunda Zahra Naderi, the former adviser to the President.

“The Taliban’s dissension, undoubtedly, depends on their intelligence supporters, especially Pakistan. Unless they have directions from them the ceasefire is not possible,” said Ahmad Bacluchzada, a political expert.

Moreover, the political experts added that the meeting revealed the existing distance between the negotiations and peace preliminaries.

“What happened in the two meetings in Moscow shows that there is a huge distance between the negotiations and peace preliminaries than what we see, yet both sides do not have a good understanding of each other and what is happening in Afghanistan,” said Nazari Pariani, a journalist.  

Some of the Taliban officials, however, said that the intra-Afghan meeting in Moscow was efficient and both sides agreed on a consensus.

“The discussions were quite valued and efficient for the future of Afghanistan. All had consensus on bringing peace, foreigner forces withdrawal, and consolidation of Islamic system in Afghanistan,” said Din Mohammad Hanif, a member of the Taliban leadership council.

However, Mohammad Hanif Atmar, the Afghan politician who attended the meeting, describes the lack of the Taliban’s agreement on ceasefire regretful.

Neither the Afghan government, the United States of America, NATO and Europe Union nor the Russian- the country which hosted the meeting, have not had any reactions towards the meeting so far.