Moscow - Russia has advised the West not to engage in talks with Afghanistan's Taliban, in the wake of a recent rise in deadly attacks on NATO-led troops there. "There can only be cooperation with moderate Taliban supporters who lay down their weapons and break off their ties to al-Qaeda," said the Russian deputy ambassador to the UN, Konstantin Dolgov, on Thursday according to the Interfax news agency.
The Taliban or Taliban-linked militants carried out more than 400 attacks in the first week of June, according to the US commander in the Middle East and Central Asia, General David Petraeus. That was the highest figure since the US-led military overthrow of the Taliban regime in 2001.
Russia fears an increase in extremist violence and drug smuggling along its southern flank, and has supported the NATO-led troops by opening its territory for the transit of supplies.
Since the entry of US President Barack Obama to the White House, calls have grown for direct talks between the US and so-called "moderate" Taliban, in an effort to wind-down the eight-year conflict.
"The road to national reconciliation" in Afghanistan, said Dolgov, "does not go via extremism."
"Negotiations with terrorists would only damage long-term stability," he said.
The US began a new offensive against the Taliban in the southern Helmand province on Thursday, with around 4,000 US Marines and 650 Afghan soldiers were taking part in "Operation Khanjar."
The aim is to drive the Islamist militants out of the region, which has been a Taliban stronghold for years.
