Roza Otunbayeva, the head of the UN mission in Afghanistan, announced at a press briefing following the UN Security Council meeting in New York on Wednesday that two Doha meetings are slated for this year, with the next session scheduled for June.
Despite the Taliban’s absence at the recent dialogue in Doha, Otunbayeva described the discussions as “quite fruitful and very useful.”
She expressed confidence in the Taliban’s future participation, saying, “We will work on this.”
“The Secretary-General, in summarizing the meeting, advised having a couple of Doha meetings per year, rather than just one, as has been the case. These future meetings will focus on concrete, practical issues of significant interest to the Taliban. We’re looking at having a few Dohas this year, even starting to prepare for the one in June,” Otunbayeva elaborated.
The previous Doha meeting, held in February, saw participation from special envoys of at least 29 countries and organizations and resolved to continue the implementation of a UN special assessment, although the Taliban did not attend.
