In Doha, without the Taliban, negotiations on Afghanistan stalled

UN chief Antonio Guterres (C) attends talks with international envoys on Afghanistan in Doha, May 2, 2023. AFP - KARIM JAAFAR

Text by: Sonia Ghezali Follow

3 min

A two-day UN-organized meeting on Afghanistan took place in Doha, Qatar, on 1-2 May. Twenty-five countries and organizations were present to discuss the approach to the Taliban regime that took power on August 15, 2021. A regime that was not invited to this meeting.

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From our correspondent in Islamabad,

The purpose of this meeting was to discuss how the United Nations, countries, organizations should deal, work and discuss with the Taliban.

The idea for this meeting was born after the visits of several senior UN officials to Kabul last January, following the Taliban regime's decision to ban Afghan women from working for NGOs; a decision followed by an extension of this ban to the UN last month.

The various meetings between representatives of the UN and the Taliban regime have yielded nothing, have changed nothing, hence the need, according to some senior UN officials, to discuss a political plan to move things forward. In other words, to be able to put pressure on the Taliban, which is not the case today.

Special envoys from the United States, China and Russia, as well as major donors, are among the 25 countries and organizations convened by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in Doha. All discussions were held in camera.

The Taliban were not invited. It is known, however, that bilateral meetings were held between Taliban representatives and participants in the meeting under the auspices of the United Nations.

Rising tensions between Taliban and the international community

Relations between the Taliban regime, the international community and the UN have steadily deteriorated since the Taliban seized power nearly nineteen months ago. And this meeting further confirmed the tensions since the Taliban reacted very badly to their exclusion from these meetings in Doha. Suhail Shaheen, spokesman for the Taliban regime, denounced the meeting as discriminatory and counterproductive in the absence of a Taliban representative.

No country to date has recognized the Taliban regime, and this is another sticking point between the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan and other countries. The suspension of international aid to their seizure of power, which represented 80% of the Afghan state budget, has been a sensitive issue since the Taliban took power.

► Also listen: Afghan economy under pressure from international sanctions

And then there are all these restrictive and repressive laws against women and girls that have been taken over the last nineteen months and that have shown that the Taliban have not really changed. The UN and NGOs on the ground denounce the ban on women working for their organizations as a dangerous obstacle to their activities while the country constitutes one of the worst humanitarian crises.

► Read also: The UN Security Council condemns the fate of Afghan women

During this meeting, no concrete measures were announced. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed concern about Afghanistan's stability and the plight of Afghan women whose rights are being violated, but no announcement was made after the meetings, which are expected to continue in the near future. Will the Taliban be invited to the next meetings? The question is already on everyone's lips.

Our meeting was about developing a common international approach, not about recognising the de facto Taliban authorities... The vast majority of our life-saving staff are Afghan nationals. And many of them are humanitarian workers. The current ban on Afghan women working for the UN and national and international NGOs is unacceptable and puts lives at risk. Let us be very clear: we will never remain silent in the face of systemic and unprecedented attacks on the rights of women and girls.

Antonio Guterres: "We will never remain silent in the face of systemic attacks... against the rights of women and girls"

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• Afghanistan
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