Afghanistan

Taliban decries UN’s ‘unfair’ Doha meeting decision

The Taliban’s deputy chief minister, Abdul Kabir, labeled the United Nations’ decision to organize a recent meeting in Doha without their presence as “unfair.”

Kabir expressed these remarks during a graduation ceremony at a religious institute in Kabul on Thursday, according to a Taliban statement released on Friday.

Kabir stated the Taliban’s willingness to participate in future meetings as representatives of Afghanistan, conditional on acceptance from the UN and other involved countries.

The meeting held by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Feb. 18-19 in Doha, brought together special envoys on Afghanistan. Although the Taliban was invited for sideline talks with the special envoy during the main meeting, they chose not to attend, citing unmet conditions by the UN.

At a press conference on the second day of the meeting, UN chief said Taliban put ‘unacceptable conditions’ on the table for their participation in the meeting.