Amidst the consistent efforts being made across the world to deal with the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan, a US delegation will be traveling to Doha over the weekend. The aim is to meet the senior officials of the Afghan Taliban representatives.
US To Meet Taliban To Discuss National Interests
The US delegation meeting the senior Taliban representatives will be the first meeting since the US withdrew its troops from Afghanistan. As per the announcement made by the State Department, the meeting is a continuation of the profitable engagements with the Taliban on the issues of the US’s national interests.
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The spokesperson from the department on Friday said that the meeting is not about granting recognition or conferring legitimacy to the Taliban regime over the war-torn country. He said that the key priorities of the meeting are to ensure a safe passage out of Afghanistan of the US and other foreign nations. Along with the ones who have a special commitment who wish to seek to leave the country.
At the same time, the US wants to hold the Taliban accountable for their commitment to not let the terrorists use the Afghanistan soil to threaten the US or its allies.
US To Press Taliban To Respect Women’s Rights
The official said that the US officials in the meeting with the Taliban will further push them to respect the rights of the women and girls and form an inclusive government. It further plans to push them to allow humanitarian agencies free access to areas of need.
Reports suggest that the American delegation visiting the Taliban will include officials from the Central Intelligence Agency, the US Agency for International Development and the State Department.
However, the US Special Representative Zalmay Khalilzad who has overseen the Washington’s dialogue with the Taliban in the Qatari capital and has played a major role in peace talks will not be a part of the upcoming delegation.
