U.S. Will Not Take Part in Syria Peace Talks in Kazakhstan

— -- The United States will not send a delegation to Syria peace talks in Kazakhstan, citing "Our presidential inauguration and the immediate demands of the transition," the State Department announced Saturday. The U.S. ambassador to Kazakhstan, however, will be an observer to the talks being sponsored by Russia, Turkey and Iran.

"The U.S. government this week received an invitation from the government of Kazakhstan to attend the January 23 talks in Astana," said Mark Toner, the acting State Department spokesman. "We welcome and appreciate Kazakhstan’s invitation to participate as an observer.

"Given our presidential inauguration and the immediate demands of the transition, a delegation from Washington will not be attending the Astana conference," Toner said. "The United States will be represented by our Ambassador to Kazakhstan."

Toner added, "The United States is committed to a political resolution to the Syrian crisis through a Syrian-owned process, which can bring about a more representative, peaceful, and united Syria."

Scheduled to begin on Monday, the talks in Kazakhstan's capital of Astana will bring together representatives from the Syrian government and rebels groups. Russia, Turkey and Iran arranged the talks following a ceasefire in the Syrian civil war enabled by the defeat of rebel forces in the northern city of Aleppo. Russian airstrikes and Iranian advisers supported the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the fight over the city.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee has scheduled a vote on Rex Tillerson's nomination to become the next Secretary of State for Monday, that would lead to a full confirmation vote by the Senate.

For now, Thomas Shannon, a career diplomat and the previous under secretary for political and military affairs, is serving as acting secretary of state.

Last week, then Secretary of State John Kerry had urged the incoming Trump administration to attend the peace talks.

"My hope is the next administration will decide to go," he said. "I think it would be good for them to go."

Kerry told reporters traveling with him in Paris that he hoped the Astana talks would not be a substitute for stalled United Nations-led peace talks being held in Geneva, Switzerland, but would spur their resumption.

Reflecting the complexity of the Syrian Civil War, there is disagreement among the participants in the Astana talks about whether the United States should have participated.

While Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had expressed hope that the U.S. would participate in the talks, Iran opposed any American participation.