Two senior administration officials told Reuters that a US delegation will meet with senior Taliban representatives in Doha on Saturday and Sunday in their first face-to-face meeting at a senior level since Washington withdrew its troops from Afghanistan and the hardline group took control of the country.
According to officials, the high-level US delegation, which will include representatives from the State Department, USAID, and the US intelligence community, will press the Taliban to ensure continued safe passage for US citizens and others out of Afghanistan, as well as the release of kidnapped US citizen Mark Frerichs.
Another top priority will be to hold the Taliban to its promise not to allow Afghanistan to become a hotbed for al Qaeda or other extremists again, as well as to press the Taliban to improve humanitarian aid access as the country faces a “really severe and probably impossible to prevent” economic contraction, according to US officials.
The team will not include US Special Representative Zalmay Khalilzad, who has led US contact with the Taliban for years and has been a crucial figure in peace discussions with the group.
Tom West, the State Department’s Deputy Special Representative, and Sarah Charles, a top USAID humanitarian official, will lead the US delegation. Cabinet officials from the Taliban’s side are expected to attend, according to officials.
“This meeting is a continuation of our pragmatic discussions with the Taliban on issues of important national interest,” a senior administration official said on condition of anonymity.
“This meeting is not about bestowing legitimacy or granting recognition. We are adamant that the Taliban must earn any credibility via their own conduct. They need to establish a sustained track record,” the official said.
The US’s two-decade occupation of Afghanistan ended in August with a hurriedly orchestrated evacuation that saw more than 124,000 civilians, including Americans, Afghans, and others, evacuated as the Taliban assumed control. Thousands of other Afghans who were associated with the US and were at risk of Taliban punishment were left behind.
As a serious humanitarian disaster looms over Afghanistan, Washington and other Western governments are faced with difficult decisions. They’re attempting to figure out how to deal with the Taliban without giving them the credibility they want while still allowing humanitarian aid into the nation.
Many Afghans have begun to sell their belongings in order to pay for increasingly scarce food.
According to the World Bank, the departure of US-led forces and numerous international donors deprived the country of funding that financed 75% of government spending.
While humanitarian actors were able to gain access to some places for the first time in a decade, challenges remained, according to the US source, who added that the US team would press the Taliban to improve.
“We’re having some serious access challenges right now….
“There are several obstacles in ensuring that female relief workers have unrestricted access to all locations,” the official said, adding that “if we are to consider even more substantial humanitarian assistance,” the Taliban must improve on this front.”
WOMEN’S RIGHTS UNDER PRESSURE
While the Taliban have pledged to be more inclusive than they were when they ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001, the US has stated repeatedly that it will assess the new Taliban government by its actions rather than its words.
The Taliban used members of its inner circle to fill key positions in Afghanistan’s new provisional government, which was announced last month, including the appointment of an associate of the Islamist terrorist group’s founder as prime minister and a wanted man on a US terrorism list as interior minister. In the cabinet, there were no outsiders and no women.
On Sunday, the European Union’s foreign policy leader said the country’s recent actions was “not very promising.”
“We will undoubtedly press the Taliban to respect the rights of all Afghans, including women and children, and to build a broad-based, inclusive administration,” the US source added.
He went on to say that the Taliban’s pledges of ongoing safe passage were contradicted by their actions.
“In practise, their commitments have been implemented in a haphazard manner. It is true that sometimes we receive assurances from certain levels but then follow through on those assurances has truly been uneven,” the official said.
Since August 31, when the US pullout was concluded, the US has directly supported the departure of 105 US nationals and 95 lawful permanent residents from Afghanistan, according to State Department spokesperson Ned Price.
He wouldn’t give an exact number of those still alive, but claimed the CIA was in communication with “dozens of Americans in Afghanistan who want to leave,” but that the number was fluid and changing.
(With inputs from NDTV News – Topstories.)
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The Chenab Times News Desk