The United Nations is holding important talks on Afghanistan in Qatar, without the Taliban

1″ May”2023″ Aljazeera

The Taliban have not been invited to a United Nations conference on Afghanistan in Doha, with the South Asian country’s ruling Afghan bloc saying the two-day meeting would be “ineffective” without them. participation.

Delegates from the United States, China and Russia, as well as major European donors and key neighboring countries such as Pakistan, are among the representatives of about 25 countries and groups called for closed-door talks by the secretary-general for two days. United Nations Antonio. Guterres in the capital of Qatar on Monday

Any conference on Afghanistan without the participation of the Afghan government is ineffective and useless,” Abdul Qahar Balkhi, the spokesman for the Taliban’s foreign ministry, told Al Jazeera.

Last week, the head of the United Nations said that the leaders of Afghanistan were not invited to the meeting to discuss the dire humanitarian situation in the country and the international isolation. A UN source told Al Jazeera on Monday that Taliban recognition was not on the agenda.

His statement came after members of the Afghan diaspora and some Western countries expressed concern about the possibility of recognizing the Islamic Emirates Government in Afghanistan, with the Taliban referring to the country, after a statement by the deputy United Nations Secretary General Amina. Mohamed

Khalilzad, who signed the 2020 Doha Agreement with the Taliban, hoped that the meeting will produce a realistic roadmap for international engagement with Afghanistan.

The Doha Agreement resulted in the US withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021 after 20 years of occupation, leading to the collapse of the West-backed government.

The Taliban was accused of violating the Doha Agreement after military takeover of the country but the group has defended its move. It says the international sanctions and its isolation is against the spirit of the Doha Agreement while it has kept the promise to not allow Afghanistan to become a haven for armed groups such as ISIL (ISIS).