German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said that his country's envoy, Markus Potzel, held a first round of negotiations with representatives of the Taliban movement in Doha on Wednesday.

The meeting comes amid an accelerating Western diplomatic movement to deal with the developments in the Afghan crisis.

Maas added at a press conference in Berlin that the German envoy will hold a second round of negotiations on Thursday, which will be carried out in coordination with the United States, which is doing the same.

Maas stressed that Berlin is trying to exploit all opportunities through a third party, such as the State of Qatar, to influence the Taliban, as he put it.

For his part, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that it is difficult to judge the Taliban at the present time, adding that this will be done according to their actions, not their words.

He added in a special session of the House of Commons to discuss developments in Afghanistan, that his country will work with the international community to develop a plan to deal with the Taliban.

He stated that his country allocates half a billion pounds to support the Afghan people, and that it must face the reality of regime change in Afghanistan.


He indicated that as the head of the G7 countries, he will work with the international community to develop a unified plan to deal with this regime, adding, "We are watching closely and we do not want to lose what we have achieved in the past years. We want actions rather than statements to combat terrorism and crime in Afghanistan."

On the other hand, the official Saudi Press Agency reported yesterday, Wednesday, that Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan bin Abdullah received a phone call from his American counterpart Anthony Blinken.

The agency added that the contact dealt with bilateral relations and "means of strengthening them in all common areas", developments in Afghanistan and developments in the region.

European call for an urgent meeting

On Wednesday, the presidency of the European Union, which is currently held by Slovenia, called for an urgent meeting to discuss the situation in Afghanistan after the Taliban took control of the capital, Kabul.

After an extraordinary conference with his counterparts on the Baltic migration crisis, Slovenian Interior Minister Alice Hoes told reporters that he hoped to hold a similar meeting to discuss the Afghan crisis.

An EU official said such a meeting could take place within days, but it was not yet clear if the interior ministers would meet to discuss the matter.

NATO foreign ministers meeting

In the same context, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg announced on Wednesday that the foreign ministers of the alliance countries will hold a video meeting next Friday to discuss the situation in Afghanistan.

Stoltenberg wrote on Twitter that this extraordinary meeting would aim to "maintain close coordination and discuss a unified approach to Afghanistan" after the Taliban seized power.

This comes after the first meeting of the delegates of NATO member states on Tuesday, at a time when Western countries are speeding up the process of evacuating their diplomats and citizens from Kabul under difficult circumstances.

Stoltenberg said in a press conference on Tuesday that NATO forces "fought courageously" in Afghanistan, but were surprised by "the political and military collapse in recent weeks, with a speed that was not expected."

"We must make an honest and judicious assessment of NATO's mission in Afghanistan. Despite great investments and sacrifices on our part over two decades, the collapse was swift and sudden. We can draw many lessons," he added.

Stoltenberg stressed on Tuesday that "the failure of the Afghan authorities is what led to what we are witnessing today."

"The Taliban should respect and facilitate the safe departure of those who wish to leave the airport, and the roads and borders should remain open," he said.

On Tuesday, a NATO official said that about 1,000 Afghan employees and their family members will be evacuated from Kabul, and most of them will be transferred to a third country where they will receive a visa to enter a member state of the alliance.

"About 800 civilians working for the Atlantic have remained (in Kabul) to exercise vital functions in extremely complex conditions, including air navigation, fuel and communications," the Secretary-General of NATO said.

For his part, German conservative party leader Armin Laschet described the withdrawal from Afghanistan as "the biggest defeat (...) for NATO since its establishment" in 1949.

Merkel and Putin meet on Afghanistan and Ukraine

German Chancellor Angela Merkel will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow next Friday to discuss security in Afghanistan and ways to achieve peace in eastern Ukraine, a German government spokesman said on Wednesday.

He added that Merkel will then travel to Ukraine for talks with President Volodymyr Zelensky next Sunday, which will focus on bilateral relations, political reform and how to make progress in the deadlocked peace process in eastern Ukraine.


Paris: Our ambassador is doing a good job in Afghanistan

On the other hand, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said that "talking about withdrawing our ambassador from Kabul is premature and he is doing a good job there."

He called on the Taliban to take some steps if they wanted international recognition.

In an interview with the French channel "BFMTV", he added that recognizing the Taliban is not currently on France's agenda.

He stressed that his country's priority now is to provide security for the French and those collaborating with Paris in Afghanistan.

He pointed out that they sought as much as possible to evacuate the French in Afghanistan to their country.

In response to a question about the legitimacy of the Taliban, the French minister said that legitimacy cannot be gained when controlling the government through force.

He pointed out that the Taliban have made great efforts to secure their recognition, indicating that words are not enough and that the Taliban must do some practices if they want international recognition.

And he added: Among these practices is allowing those who wish to leave Afghanistan for fear of the Taliban.

Since last May, the Taliban movement has begun to expand its influence in Afghanistan, coinciding with the start of the final stage of the withdrawal of US forces, which is scheduled to be completed by August 31.

In less than 10 days, the movement controlled almost most of Afghanistan, despite billions of dollars spent by the United States and NATO over nearly 20 years to build Afghan security forces.

In 2001, an international military coalition led by Washington overthrew the Taliban's rule because of its association with Al-Qaeda, which claimed attacks in the United States on September 11 of that year.