Qatar prime minister, Taliban chief hold secret Afghan talks -source
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[May 31, 2023]
By Jonathan Landay
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Qatari prime minister held secret talks with
the supreme leader of the Taliban this month on resolving tension with
the international community, a source briefed on the meeting said,
signaling a new willingness by Afghanistan's rulers to discuss ways to
end their isolation.
The May 12 meeting in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar between
Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani and Haibatullah
Akhunzada is the first the reclusive Taliban chief is known to have held
with a foreign leader.
U.S. President Joe Biden's administration was briefed on the talks and
is "coordinating on all issues discussed" by the pair, including
furthering dialogue with the Taliban, said the source.
The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said other issues
Sheikh Mohammed raised with Haibatullah included the need to end a
Taliban bans on girls' education and women's employment.
The meeting represents a diplomatic success for Qatar, which has
criticized Taliban restrictions on women while using long-standing ties
with the Islamist movement to push for deeper engagement with Kabul by
the international community.
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The United States has led demands for the Taliban to end the bans on
girls' schooling and women working, including for U.N. agencies and
humanitarian groups, to restore their freedom of movement and bring
Afghans from outside Taliban ranks into government.
The source's comments suggested that Washington supported elevating what
have been unproductive lower-level talks in the hope of a breakthrough
that could end the world's only bans of their kind and ease dire
humanitarian and financial crises that have left tens of millions of
Afghans hungry and jobless.
The White House declined to comment on the talks. The State Department
and the Qatar embassy in Washington did not respond to requests for
comment.
The Taliban did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
EDUCATION, EMPLOYMENT BANS
The restrictions on women's schooling and work have stymied humanitarian
aid and are key reasons why no country has recognized Taliban rule since
they seized power in August 2021, after the Western-backed government
collapsed as the last U.S.-led international troops departed following
two decades of war.
The treatment by the Taliban of women and girls could amount to a crime
against humanity, according to a U.N. report presented in March at the
Human Rights Council in Geneva. The Taliban say they respect women’s
rights in line with their interpretation of Islamic law and Afghan
customs.
Haibatullah, a hardline Islamist, has shown little willingness to
compromise on his edicts.
His meeting with Sheikh Mohammed, however, suggests that he is open to
exploring avenues for ending Afghanistan's isolation and boosting relief
programs as the country sinks into hunger and poverty.
"It was a very positive meeting," said the source. Haibatullah was "very
interested" in continuing a dialogue with the international community.
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But eventual recognition by other countries of the Taliban
administration, senior members of which remain under U.S. and
international sanctions, is far from assured given their treatment of
women and poor human rights record.
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![](../images/053123PIX/news_x32.jpg)
Qatar's then deputy prime minister and
foreign minister, Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, speaks during a
meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in Washington,
U.S. February 10, 2023. Kevin Wolf/Pool via REUTERS
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2023/May/31/images/ads/current/heartlandcollege_lda_050123.png)
Sheikh Mohammed raised with Haibatullah the need to lift the bans on
women's education and employment, including the bar on them working
for U.N. agencies and other humanitarian groups, the source said.
The Taliban administration has been promising since January written
guidelines allowing aid groups to operate with female staff.
The Taliban in March 2022 barred girls from high schools and
extended the ban to universities in December.
They say they will reopen secondary schools to girls when
"conditions" have been met, including devising an Islamic syllabus.
ADDRESSING HUMANITARIAN CRISIS
Sheikh Mohammed and Haibatullah also discussed efforts to remedy
Afghanistan's humanitarian crisis, the source said.
The United Nations says nearly three-quarters of Afghanistan's 40
million people need help and it has warned that funding is drying
up.
Sheikh Mohammed, the source said, raised with Haibatullah the
"continued efforts on the ground" by the Taliban on
counterterrorism, an apparent reference to Kabul's drive to crush an
Islamic State affiliate.
The main ideological foe of the Taliban is based mostly in eastern
Afghanistan but has targeted minorities and embassies in Kabul.
The U.S. and its allies say the Taliban harbor members of al Qaeda
and the Pakistani Taliban. The Afghan Taliban deny that.
Sheikh Mohammed, who also serves as Qatar's foreign minister, met
publicly in Kandahar with Mullah Hassan Akhund, the Taliban prime
minister, on the same day he met the supreme leader. He was
accompanied by Qatar's intelligence chief.
Neither side, however, revealed the talks with Haibatullah.
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He almost never leaves Kandahar but has been the paramount
religious, political and military leader of the Taliban since 2016,
guiding the movement to victory over the Western-backed Kabul
government.
Qatar allowed the militants to open a political office in Doha in
2013 and facilitated their talks with Washington that led to the
2020 deal for a withdrawal of the U.S.-led international force that
they fought for 20 years.
While the tiny Gulf monarchy has no formal diplomatic ties with
Afghanistan, its Kabul embassy is open and represents U.S. interests
there.
Qatar has long pressed the international community to agree a
"roadmap" of steps for the Taliban to gain recognition, arguing that
isolating Afghanistan could worsen regional security.
(Reporting by Jonathan Landay; additional reporting by Kabul
newsroom; Editing by Don Durfee and Deepa Babington)
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