‘Not about conferring legitimacy’: US, Taliban to hold first talks in Doha since withdrawal from Afghanistan

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Senior Taliban officials and US representatives are set to hold talks today and tomorrow in Doha about containing extremist groups in Afghanistan and easing the evacuation of foreign citizens and Afghans from the country, officials from both sides said.

It’s the first such meeting since U.S. forces withdrew from Afghanistan in late August, ending a 20-year military presence there, and the Taliban’s rise to power in the nation.

“This meeting is a continuation of the pragmatic engagements with the Taliban on issues of US vital national interest,” Xinhua news agency quoted a Department spokesperson. The spokesperson noted that it is “not about granting recognition or conferring legitimacy”.

Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen, who is based in Doha, told The Associated Press on Saturday that the talks will also revisit the peace agreement the Taliban signed with Washington in 2020 that paved the way for the final U..S. withdrawal.

“Yes there is a meeting . . . about bilateral relations and implementation of the Doha agreement,” said Shaheen. “It covers various topics.” Terrorism will also feature in the talks, said a second official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

The delegations

According to media reports, the American delegation will include officials from the Central Intelligence Agency, the State Department, and the US Agency for International Development.

But US Special Representative Zalmay Khalilzad, who has for years spearheaded Washington’s dialogue with the Taliban in the Qatari capital and been a key figure in peace talks, will not be part of the delegation, TOLO News reported.

Meanwhile, Acting Foreign Minister Amirkhan Motaqi, who is leading the Afghan Taliban delegation comprising cabinet officials, left for Doha on Friday night.