On November 9, 2018, Russia hosted the first round of Moscow initiative to resolve the Afghan conundrum, signifying its ever increasing interest in the country that has evolved, over the last 17 years, from a hot-bed of conflict between the US and the Taliban, including Al-Qaeda, to a strategic stalemate between the US and the Taliban, witnessing also the discreet rise of the Islamic State in Khorasan (IS-K) in Afghanistan, threatening the entire Central Asia and Russia with its tendency to reach beyond the land it comes to inhabit. The rising threat of IS-K explains why Russia has become active in initiating a peace process to achieve its settlement, but for the Western officials, Russian initiative is only an attempt on its part to make things 'complicated' for a peace process that must be 'Afghan-led & Afghan owned.'
This is not only ironic given that the West, specifically the US, has failed to end the war in the 17 years, but also factually wrong since Moscow initiative doesn't contradict the idea of an 'Afghan-led' peace process.As such, while
the Moscow initiative deepens Russian role in Afghanistan - and there is nothing wrong with deepening ties with one's neighbouring country - it does also compliment the concept of 'Afghan-led' peace process in important ways. In other words, contrary to Western projections, the Moscow initiative is nothing about pushing the US/the West out of the game. First of all, the nature of the summit held itself signifies how it was centred on the idea of 'Afghan-led' peace process. For instance, the Afghan High Peace Council, which attended the event, reiterated in its statement that the purpose of the summit was only to discuss "the subject of direct talks with the Taliban and [they] asked them [Taliban] to choose the place and the starting time." Clearly, this is an Afghan peace council talking to an Afghan militant group, Taliban, asking them to initiate dialogue.
Moscow seems only to fit as a facilitator rather than a dictator of peace terms.
Comment: Foreign Policy reports more on the political stalemate: