Russia to invite Taliban to take part in Moscow talks on Afghanistan this month

Moscow [Russia], October 7 : Russia on Thursday said it would invite representatives of the Taliban to attend the Moscow format meeting on Afghanistan on October 20, TASS news reported.
"Russia will invite representatives of the Taliban to attend the Moscow format meeting on Afghanistan due on October 20," TASS news reported citing Russian Special Presidential Envoy for Afghanistan and Director of the Foreign Ministry's Second Asian Department Zamir Kabulov as saying.
"Yes," Kabulov said, answering a question if Russia planned on inviting the Taliban. Meanwhile, the envoy did not specify the level of the Taliban's representatives, the Russian news agency reported.
The Moscow format was introduced in 2017 on the basis of the six-party mechanism for consultations between special representatives from Russia, Afghanistan, China, Pakistan, Iran, and India.
It is been over a month since the Taliban captured Kabul after an aggressive and rapid advance against Afghanistan government forces. The country plunged into crisis in the month of August after Kabul fell to the Taliban and the democratically elected government of former president Ashraf Ghani collapsed.