Top U.S. special envoys for Afghanistan, Thomas West and Rina Amiri, will attend the upcoming Doha conference on Afghanistan, according to U.S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller.
The meeting, hosted by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, follows the adoption of a UN Security Council resolution last December. The summit is scheduled for Feb. 18-19.
Speaking in Washington D.C., Miller said the U.S. “strongly supports” the resolution’s call for a UN special envoy for Afghanistan and urged Guterres to appoint one “as soon as possible.”
“Special Representative for Afghanistan Tom West and Special Envoy for Women, Girls, and Human Rights in Afghanistan Rina Amiri attended the last UN secretary-general’s meeting of Afghanistan envoys in May of last year, and they do plan to attend the next one this month in Doha,” he said.
“The meeting follows the UN Security Council resolution on Afghanistan adopted in December. The United States strongly supports the resolution’s call for a UN special envoy for Afghanistan and urges the secretary-general to appoint a special envoy as soon as possible. A special envoy will be well-positioned to coordinate international engagement on Afghanistan to achieve the objectives laid out in this resolution,” he added.
Taliban has also been invited to the meeting but it has yet to announce its attendance.
Taliban officials have voiced opposition to the appointment of a UN special envoy, deeming it “unnecessary.”
