End of Doha talks amid US and Taliban optimism.
The State Department today (Monday) described the Doha talks with the Taliban as “frank and professional” and stressed that the Washington delegation linked any ruling on the movement to its actions, not just its words. The Taliban also described the talks with US officials as “constructive”.
The State Department said in a statement that the delegation focused on security concerns, the fight against terrorism, and the safe exit of Americans and others during the talks, Al Jazeera reported.
The first direct meeting between senior US and Taliban officials since the US withdrew from Afghanistan last August focused on human rights issues and the participation of women and girls in all social spheres in Afghanistan.
The US delegation also discussed direct humanitarian assistance to the Afghan people with senior Taliban representatives.
“We emphasized in the negotiations that the verdict on the Taliban depends on their behavior,” the State Department said.
The United States has stressed that the current talks are by no means a prelude to recognizing the Taliban, the statement said.
In response, the Taliban said on Sunday that talks with Washington had progressed well in the past two days in Doha, the capital of Qatar.
Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban’s deputy minister of information and culture and spokesman for the Taliban, described the talks in Doha between the Afghan interim government and the US delegation as “fruitful”.
Mujahid expressed hope that these talks would pave the way for the United States and the international community to recognize the new Afghan government.
The Taliban also said in a statement that they had discussed political issues in depth with the United States during the Doha talks, and that the Taliban and Washington delegations saw full implementation of the Doha agreement as the best way to resolve the issue.
According to the Taliban, the delegations present saw the Doha talks as an “opportunity to reach an understanding” and agreed to continue them if necessary in the future.
Meanwhile, some sources reported that the US delegation had offered to coordinate intelligence between the two sides and the possibility of using US bases in the region to attack ISIS on the Afghan side, while the Associated Press quoted Taliban spokesman Sohail Shahin as saying. He said that this movement alone is able to confront ISIS.
