Originally posted to The Associated Press website, 12 October 2021
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Qatar’s diplomatic point man on Afghanistan said Tuesday countries should engage the country’s new Taliban rulers, warning that isolation could lead to instability and a wide-reaching security threat, as happened when al-Qaida used the country as a base to plot the 9/11 attacks.
Mutlaq bin Majed al-Qahtani, Qatar’s special envoy for counterterrorism and mediation in conflict resolution, said he’s held conversations with the Taliban about combating terrorism. The Taliban, he said, are committed to fighting the Islamic State group, which is increasingly active in Afghanistan, and ensuring the country is not used by terrorist organizations. The sides have also discussed pressing issues related to the role of women in society, girls’ access to education and the importance of an inclusive government.
Qatar’s policies and insights on Afghanistan are watched closely because the tiny gas-rich nation has played an outsized role in the war-torn country in the wake of the U.S. withdrawal.
“What we are saying to the Taliban, which is the caretaker government, the de facto authorities in Kabul, (is that) discrimination and exclusion… this is not a good policy,” al-Qahtani said in a speech at the Global Security Forum in Doha organized by The Soufan Center. “As a de facto authority, you have certain responsibility, obligations to discharge.”
The current Afghan government, which the Taliban say is only interim, is comprised solely of Taliban figures, including several blacklisted by the United Nations.
Link to the original post: https://apnews.com/article/afghanistan-taliban-kabul-united-arab-emirates-united-nations-961c0672f2d52c0992b20cdc7ec3e472
