KABUL (Kubha News) — With just over a month remaining until the third Doha summit aimed at resolving the Afghan crisis, efforts and pressures are mounting to convince the Taliban to participate.
Regional countries continue their consultations, but the consensus seen before the second Doha summit among Russia, China, Pakistan, Iran, and several Central Asian countries appears to have fractured.
Last week, Iran’s ambassador in Kabul and Russia’s special envoy assured the Taliban government of their support in any international forum. However, Pakistan has yet to make such a commitment, and China has urged the Taliban to meet international community demands.
Following the visit of Tom West, the U.S. special representative for Afghanistan, Qatar’s Deputy Foreign Minister, Mohammed bin Abdulaziz Al-Khulaifi, arrived in Kabul three days ago and remains there, seeking to persuade the Taliban to send Amir Khan Muttaqi to the third Doha summit.
An official statement from Qatar’s Foreign Ministry quoted Al-Khulaifi emphasizing the importance of dialogue to resolve the Afghan crisis and achieve lasting peace and stability. He underscored the need for the “interim Afghan government” to participate in international discussions.
In a meeting on Friday with Amir Khan Muttaqi, the Taliban’s acting foreign minister, Al-Khulaifi invited him to attend the third Doha summit. Muttaqi expressed satisfaction with discussions on the impacts of climate change on Afghanistan, private sector cooperation, and counter-narcotics efforts. However, the Taliban’s Foreign Ministry statement did not specify the Taliban government’s key conditions for participating in the third Doha summit.
According to the statement from the Taliban’s Foreign Ministry, Al-Khulaifi considered the Taliban’s demands for the third Doha summit reasonable and stressed that the summit would be ineffective without their presence.
The previous Doha summit, held on February 18-19 without Taliban representatives, included foreign diplomats and four Afghan civil activists. For the third summit, no representatives from political opposition groups, including those claiming armed resistance against the Taliban, have been invited so far.
The United Nations announced this week that the third Doha summit will be held on June 30 and July 1, chaired by UN Secretary-General António Guterres and attended by special representatives and foreign diplomats.