Second Day of Doha Meet Between Special Envoys and UN Secy General Kicks Off

According to Barakzai, both Afghan women inside the country and outside Afghanistan, participated in the online meeting.

Barakzai declined to give details of the discussions, but stressed that the position of special representatives of various countries in the meeting made the Afghan women optimistic about the Doha meeting. She added that the participants stressed that they support the UN Security Council’s resolution on Afghanistan.

Barakzai added that during the online meeting, the situation of human rights, determining the position of women, and the official position of the United Nations towards Afghanistan were also discussed.

Meanwhile, Sahar Ehsan, another participant of the online meeting told Afghanistan International, that many of the participants of the online meeting were women from inside Afghanistan who discussed the security, education, and other challenges of Afghan women residing inside the country.

According to Ehsan, the meeting had been attended by Rina Amiri, the US special envoy for women and human rights in Afghanistan, the foreign minister of Indonesia, and several participants of the Doha meeting.

Another participant of the meeting, Mary Akrami said that around 60 female members of the coalition “Together Stronger” participated in the online meeting.

Akrami added that this online meeting had been organised by the US special representative for human rights and women of Afghanistan.

The two-day Doha meeting kicked off on Monday with the presence of special representatives of 25 countries and international organisations and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to discuss Afghanistan.

Special representatives of 25 countries and international organisations had been only invited.

The meet is scheduled to discuss Afghanistan on May 1 and 2 along with Antonio Guterres, the United Nations Secretary-General.

The UN announced that the Doha meeting will discuss the international community’s engagement with the Taliban too.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Pakistan in a statement on Sunday said that Rabbani will present Islamabad’s perspective to build a consensus on the way forward for Afghanistan.

The statement emphasised that Pakistan will continue to support efforts to advance common goals for a peaceful, stable, independent, and prosperous Afghanistan.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Pakistan added that in addition to attending the meeting of special representatives, Rabbani will hold bilateral meetings with various stakeholders who will participate in the Doha meeting.

Meanwhile, a high-ranking UN official told Afghanistan International that the organisation has not invited Taliban representatives to the Doha meeting.

Earlier, the spokesman for the UN Secretary-General also said that the Taliban has not been invited to attend the meeting in Doha.

Apparently, no one from other political factions and civil activists of Afghanistan have been invited to participate in the Doha meeting.

This is the first statement issued by PenPath regarding the arrest of Mutiullah Wesa, the founder and director of the organisation.

Wesa had been arrested by the Taliban in late March in Kabul. The arrest of this education activist in Afghanistan has been met with widespread international and national reactions.

Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said that the group’s intelligence agency arrested Wesa because of his "arbitrary activities and encouraging people to wage anti-government activities".

However, PenPath said in a statement that Wesa has no political affiliation or agenda in Afghanistan.

These meetings have been held close on the heels of the Doha meeting about Afghanistan which is being attended by the Secretary General of the United Nations and representatives of 25 countries and organisations.

Shaheen said that he has discussed the Doha meeting, the importance of engagement with the Taliban, and other regional relations and trade issues with the Chinese and British diplomats.

It has been reported that Taliban representatives have not been invited to the Doha meeting, however, the members of the political office of the Taliban in Doha will meet with the special representatives of different countries on the sidelines of this two-day meeting.

Maryam Rahmati, correspondent of Afghanistan International in Doha, said that the meeting will be held behind closed doors and the media will not be allowed to access the venue and participants.

In a statement, the United Nations said that the Doha meeting will discuss how to engage with the Taliban to reach a common understanding in the international community.

Over the last two days, Afghan citizens have held protests in Kabul and 15 cities around the world and asked the United Nations and the international community to avoid taking decisions in the Doha meeting that would lead to "recognition of the Taliban."

This will be the second visit of the Taliban’s foreign minister to Pakistan.

Pakistan is considered a traditional ally of the Taliban in Afghanistan. However, the continued deadly attacks by the Tahreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has impacted the group’s ties with Islamabad over the recent months.

After Afghanistan’s takeover by the Taliban in August 2021, Islamabad expected the TTP to stop violence inside Pakistan due to the influence of the Afghan Taliban on the group.

The TTP and Pakistani delegations negotiated in the past 18 months with the mediation of the Taliban in Afghanistan, but recently Pakistan sees an upsurge in violence.

Islamabad has regularly said that the Afghan Taliban has not prevented the attacks of the Pakistani Taliban on Pakistani targets and that TTP has been stationed and sheltered in Afghanistan.