No Meeting or Dialogue with Taliban in Tajikistan, Clarifies NRF

The National Resistance Front (NRF) on Friday rejected reports about a probable meeting of its members with the Taliban in Tajikistan.

NRF in a statement said that “recently, media outlets have published reports of a dialogue between the National Resistance Front and the Taliban in Tajikistan, which is not true."

The statement added that the NRF always considers lasting and real peace as the fundamental solution to the problem of Afghanistan. However, according to the NRF, the Taliban does not believe in negotiation and peace and emphasizes on the continuation of its "illegitimate power" through force.

The NRF stressed that they will continue to fight against "tyranny and coercion” with full might, but said that doors for dialogue are still open.

Recently, Russian media had reported that the NRF is going to hold a meeting of political leaders and scholars in Tajikistan. In the meeting, according to these reports, the Taliban had also been invited. The Tajikistan authorities have not yet commented on the issue.

However, it is pertinent to remember that Tajik President Imam Ali Rahman had told Pakistan's former Prime Minister Imran Khan on the sidelines of last year's Shanghai Cooperation Organization meeting that his country is ready to host peace talks between Afghanistan's "National Resistance Front" and the Taliban in Dushanbe.