Islamabad: Pakistan has decided to participate in the United Nations-hosted talks on Afghanistan in the Qatari capital scheduled for this weekend.
According to diplomatic sources, Pakistan’s Special Representative on Afghanistan Asif Durrani and assistant secretary for West Asia in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Ahmad Naseem Warraich will represent Pakistan in the talks.
The sources further said the Afghan Taliban’s interim government had boycotted the second Doha talks of 2024 over the participation of women and civil society representatives.
It would be the first time that Afghanistan’s interim administration will sit face to face with special representatives on Afghanistan from different parts of the world, they maintained.
The sources said prior to the Doha talks, the United Nations held consultations with representatives of the Afghan civil society present inside and outside Afghanistan.
After completion of the talks, representatives of the civil society members and women would hold discussion with the special representatives on Afghanistan on July 2.
“In the third Doha talks, progress on recognising the Afghan Taliban and Afghanistan's interim government is out of the question,” the diplomatic sources added.
Restrictions on women’s rights continue to prevent Afghanistan’s “reintegration” into the international community, a senior UN official said on June 21, noting the Taliban’s participation in upcoming talks in Doha is not legitimisation of the isolated government.
Since their 2021 return to power, Taliban authorities have not been formally recognised by any nation.
