Taliban Discusses Doha Meeting Agenda With US & UN Representatives
Sources told Afghanistan International that Taliban representatives, including Abdul Manan Omari, the special representative of Mullah Hibatullah in Qatar, discussed the third round of the Doha talks with US and UN representatives.
According to the sources, both parties exchanged their respective conditions.
Sources told Abdul Haq Omari, a reporter of Afghanistan International, that Abdul Manan Omari, the Taliban's Minister of Labor and Social Affairs, who went to Doha on May 27, met Ali bin Samikh, Qatar's Minister of Labour, and representatives from the United Nations and the United States.
According to the sources, US and UN representatives shared the 15-point agenda for the third round of Doha meeting with the Taliban representatives, and Hibatullah's envoy shared the Taliban's nine conditions with the US and UN representatives.
Topics for Third Round of Doha Meeting
According to the sources, the agenda for the third round of Doha talks includes the following 15 points:
1. Reviewing the human rights situation in Afghanistan under Taliban rule.
2. Comprehensive discussion on the Taliban's stance towards women, girls, and the media.
3. Discussing the appointment of a special representative for Afghanistan.
4. Assessing the demands of exiled politicians, Afghan women, and civil society representatives.
5. Challenges facing the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA)
6. Evaluating the status of freedom of expression in Afghanistan under Taliban control
7. Report from the UN Security Council's special representative on security threats from Taliban-controlled Afghanistan to the region and the world
8. Discussion on decreasing job opportunities and increasing economic problems
9. Perspectives of the international community, including the US and regional countries, on Taliban rule in Afghanistan
10. Discussion on forming an inclusive government in Afghanistan
11. Assessing the fight against ISIS and drug trafficking in Afghanistan
12. Discussing the impacts of climate change on Afghanistan and strategies to combat it
13. Discussing challenges facing the private sector
14. Discussing challenges in Afghanistan's financial and banking system and seeking solutions
15. Comprehensive discussion on providing alternative crops to opium for Afghan farmers
Taliban's Conditions
According to the sources, the Taliban delegation led by Abdul Manan Omari presented the following nine conditions for their participation in the third round of Doha meeting during their coordination meeting with UN and US representatives in Qatar:
1. No appointment of a UN special representative for Afghanistan
2. Granting Taliban the Afghanistan seat at the United Nations
3. Lifting restrictions imposed on Taliban ministers and leaders by the US and UN
4. Allowing UN agencies to operate in Afghanistan in accordance with Taliban demands
5. Requesting the UN Security Council to stop issuing anti-Taliban statements
6. Ending statements and meetings with Afghans abroad regarding the ban on women and girls' education and work
7. Preventing unnecessary actions and pressure from the US and UN against the Taliban
8. Serious attention from the US, the international community, and the UN to humanitarian aid and climate change in Afghanistan and providing unconditional and continuous humanitarian aid
9. Cooperation from the UN in education and higher education should not be one-sided and solely focused on modern education.
Sources within the Taliban told Afghanistan International that Taliban representatives at this meeting stated that a Taliban delegation is ready to participate in the third round of Doha talks, but the final decision on participation depends on the group leader’s approval.
According to the sources, the Taliban delegation that may participate in the third round of Doha talks, if agreed, includes Amir Khan Muttaqi, Taliban's Foreign Minister; Abdul Ghani Baradar, Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs, Din Mohammad Hanif, Minister of Higher Education; Abdul Manan Omari, Minister of Labor and Social Affairs and special envoy of Mullah Hibatullah, Mohammad Naeem Wardak, Taliban ambassador in Qatar; and Suhail Shaheen, the Taliban's nominee for Afghanistan's UN representation.
The third round of Doha talks is scheduled to be hosted by the United Nations in Doha, Qatar, on June 30 and July 1.
The Afghanistan United Front (AUF), led by Sami Sadat, former commander of Afghanistan's special forces, published a report on the threats posed by ISIS.
The report states that ISIS-Khorasan currently has 9,000 soldiers in Afghanistan and, with it has the capacity to conduct attacks "throughout the region”.
The detailed report by the front was released on Wednesday.
The report indicates that the number of ISIS forces in Afghanistan is rapidly increasing, and is gaining the operational capacity for suicide attacks, insurgency, and assassinations in cities as well as attack government facilities or economic centres throughout the region.
The Intelligence Commission of the Afghanistan United Front stated that currently, the largest and strongest ISIS center in the world is the ISIS network in the Khorasan region, with its leadership based in Balochistan of Pakistan, and its operational members stationed in Afghanistan.
According to the report, by the end of 2023, many active ISIS leaders from Syria and Iraq had traveled to the Balochistan region of Pakistan and Kunar province of Afghanistan.
The report states that following ISIS' defeat in Syria and Iraq, members of the group from the Middle East also went to Afghanistan and Pakistan, which has led to the strengthening of ISIS-Khorasan.
The front has warned that "the ISIS group has the ideological, human resources, and recruitment capacity to carry out attacks in Europe and the United States, and they have demonstrated this capability in Afghanistan and Iran as well."
Although the Taliban claims to have suppressed ISIS, the group occasionally launches attacks against Taliban forces and civilians, mainly Shias and Hazaras.
The presence and expansion of ISIS in Afghanistan is also a major concern for Central Asian countries.
Rangin Dadfar Spanta, former Afghan National Security Advisor, in response to an attack by an Afghan assailant in Mannheim, Germany, called for the expulsion of Taliban sympathisers from the country.
This former Afghan official urged the German government to immediately return supporters of "Taliban ideologies" and "gender apartheid" to Afghanistan.
The deadly attack by an Afghan assailant in Mannheim has heated up discussions about refugees in Germany. While right-wing parties are using this opportunity to call for the prevention of accepting migrants, Germany's Interior Minister has stated that they are examining ways to deport criminal and potentially dangerous Afghan refugees back to Afghanistan.
On Tuesday, Spanta wrote on the X social media platform that a minority living in Germany agrees with the Taliban ideology.
He wrote, "There is a very small minority that needs to be identified. These individuals agree with the Taliban ideology, support gender discrimination, and act based on it. These individuals should be immediately expelled to Afghanistan."
Spanta seems concerned about the negative repercussions of anti-immigrant debates in Germany and the tightening conditions for refugees. He called for the protection of refugees who have fled from the Taliban. He said that refugees opposing the Taliban, especially women, deserve protection and security.
Some German parties have called for the deportation of criminal refugees to Afghanistan. Currently, Germany does not deport Afghan and Syrian refugees due to the political and security situations in their countries.
Suleiman Ataee, from Herat, Afghanistan, attacked a gathering of Islam critics with a knife in the city of Mannheim on Friday, injuring six people, including a police officer. The police officer later died in the hospital.
Spanta, referring to the statements of German politicians about deporting Afghan refugees, said that decisions regarding the return of criminal refugees to Afghanistan should be made based on "law" and "human dignity”.
This attack occurred on the eve of the European Parliament elections. Far-right parties are trying to gain the most political advantage from the incident.
Sirajuddin Haqqani, the Taliban's Minister of Interior, met with Mohammed bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the President of the United Arab Emirates, in Abu Dhabi.
Khalid Zadran, the Taliban's police spokesperson in Kabul, wrote on X social media platform on Tuesday that Haqqani has traveled to the United Arab Emirates with a delegation.
The group's intelligence chief is accompanying him on this trip.
Zamir Kabulov, the Russian President's special envoy for Afghanistan, has said that the Moscow Format Contact Group meeting on Afghanistan will be held on Saturday (June 8) in Tehran, the capital of Iran.
Kabulov stated that representatives from Russia, China, Iran, and Pakistan will participate in this meeting.
The Russian news agency, TASS, reported on Tuesday, quoting Kabulov, that Moscow Format’s Contact Group meeting on Afghanistan is scheduled to be held next Saturday in Tehran.
This media outlet wrote that the Russian President's special envoy for Afghanistan has also discussed preparations for the third Doha meeting with Taliban representatives.
The fifth regional meeting on Afghanistan, known as the 'Moscow Format,' was held in Kazan, Russia, in October 2023.
In this meeting, Iran proposed the formation of a regional contact group, which later faced a deadlock due to Pakistan's opposition.
In the fifth Moscow Format meeting on Afghanistan, Amir Khan Muttaqi, the Taliban's Foreign Minister, was present.
Representatives from several regional countries emphasised on combating terrorism and forming an inclusive government in Afghanistan.
Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban’s spokesperson, refuted Tajik authorities’ concerns regarding the infiltration of extremism from Afghanistan to Central Asia.
Mujahid stated that the Taliban have repeatedly assured countries, especially Tajikistan, that Afghanistan’s soil will not be used against them.
In an interview with the group-controlled Radio Television Afghanistan (RTA) on Tuesday, Mujahid said that with the Taliban’s control of Afghanistan, security has been ensured, and no harm has been done to other countries from Afghan territory during this period. He added that Afghanistan has endured long wars and the country does not want conflicts in other countries. He emphasised that the Taliban do not allow any overseas groups to operate in Afghanistan.
Rustam Emomali, speaker of the National Assembly of Tajikistan, expressed concerns that the spread of religious extremism from Afghanistan poses a threat to members of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO). He stated that religious madrassas in Afghanistan are “breeding suicide jihadists.” Emomali highlighted that “more than a thousand religious madrassas have been established in Afghanistan, most of them located in the border provinces.”
On Monday, at the meeting of CSTO state member speakers of parliament in Almaty, Kazakhstan, Emomali asserted that the risk of extremism infiltration from Afghanistan to the CSTO countries has increased more than ever.
