By RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi
February 18, 2024
Special envoys from more than two dozen countries gathered in the Qatari capital to discuss the “evolving situation” in Afghanistan and possible international engagement since the Taliban’s takeover of the country in mid-2021, organizers of the UN-led event said on February 18.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres held closed-door sessions with the representatives of several nations and organizations on the first day of the two-day meetings in Doha sponsored by the UN’s Department of Political Affairs and Peacebuilding (DPPA). No details of the meetings were immediately released.
Organizers said participants from 25 countries and groups would include those from “Afghanistan, the wider region, and beyond.”
“Other regional organizations working actively on Afghanistan such as the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the European Union, and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization” would be there, a statement said.
The DPPA said the “de facto authorities” from Afghanistan had been invited, but the Taliban’s Foreign Ministry on February 17 said that due to the nonacceptance of its demands, it did not consider participation in the Doha meeting to be fruitful, expressing anger over the planned appearance of non-Taliban Afghan representatives at the sessions.
The Taliban has long had a representative office in Qatar.
Reports in the Afghan media said Lotfollah Najafizadeh on behalf of civil activists and Mahbubeh Siraj, Mitra Mehran, and Shah Gul Rezaee representing Afghan women’s rights groups were participating.
The DPPA said the current session would “take place in the context of Security Council resolution 2721 (2023), which encourages member states to consider increasing international engagement in the country, with the objective of a ‘clear end state of an Afghanistan at peace with itself and its neighbors, fully reintegrated into the international community, and meeting international obligations.’”
In an interview with RFE/RL, Nicholas Kay, a former British diplomat and NATO representative in Afghanistan, said he is not optimistic about the situation in the war-torn country as its Taliban leaders continue to restrict rights and freedoms, especially for females.
Kay, NATO’s senior civilian representative in Afghanistan in 2018-20, said he sees little potential for change in Afghanistan in the near future with the Taliban holding a tight grip on society.
“I think it’s tough days ahead for Afghans, unfortunately,” he told RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi ahead the Doha sessions.
“I wish I could be more optimistic,” he said.
The gathering is the second such meeting organized by the UN in the past year following a session in May 2023.
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