US Rejects Afghanistan Talks Invitation

The aftermath following an attack by the Taliban in the Afghan city of Ghazni at the weekend (Picture: PA).

The US has rejected an invitation to join Russia-led talks on Afghanistan because they are unlikely to help bring peace, officials said.

The rejection arrives as the Trump administration prepares to appoint diplomatic veteran Zalmay Khalilzad as a new special envoy for the war-battered nation.

Russia said that the Taliban will be joining the September 4 talks in Moscow, along with representatives of several neighbouring countries.

It will be one of the insurgent group's biggest diplomatic forays since the 2001 US-led invasion of Afghanistan.

The US state department official said that as a matter of principle, America supports Afghan-led efforts to advance a peace settlement.

The official added that, based on previous Russia-led meetings on Afghanistan, the Moscow talks are "unlikely to yield any progress toward that end".

That decision comes as the Taliban escalates attacks across Afghanistan, including an attack on a military base.

It has refused direct talks with Kabul, even as it seeks to raises its diplomatic profile in the region and calls for talks with the US which it views as the real power behind the Afghan government.

The insurgent group has yet to respond to President Ashraf Ghani's offer earlier this week of a conditional ceasefire for the duration of the Eid al-Adha religious holiday which began on Tuesday.

Despite escalating violence in Afghanistan, the top US commander there said Wednesday that the US-led coalition sees hope in Taliban statements in recent months indicating interest in a negotiations to end the 17-year war, and Afghan public and religious clerics' desire for peace.