The third round of the Doha meeting has concluded
The third round of the Doha meeting has concluded.
This two-day meeting in Doha included the presence of the Taliban delegation, along with representatives from 25 countries and 5 international organizations.
During the second day, discussions focused on economic issues and the fight against drug trafficking in Afghanistan.
Zabihullah Mujahid, leading the Taliban delegation, described the outcomes of the second day as "good" and praised the positions of countries like Russia, China, Iran, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, the United States, and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation as "appreciable".
Meanwhile, Rosemary DiCarlo, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs, who chaired the third Doha meeting on Afghanistan, termed the outcome of the meeting as "constructive" on her X (formerly Twitter) page. She noted that this was the first time such a meeting was held between the international community and the Taliban.
After the two-day meeting, Rosemary DiCarlo expressed in a press conference her hope that the discussions with the Taliban would lead to improvements in governance.
However, the invitation extended to the Taliban sparked protests from civil society activists and Afghan women's rights activists. Initially, the UN did not include representatives from these groups in the meeting. Following the protests, the UN extended invitations to some of these activists, but the late invitations were rejected and these activists boycotted the third Doha meeting.
