A Qatari delegation led by Mohammed bin Abdulaziz Al-Khulaifi, Qatar’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, in a meeting with Taliban officials asked them to participate in the third Doha meeting, according to a Taliban statement.
In a statement, the Taliban-controlled presidential palace said Al-Khulaifi, raised the issue in his meeting with Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Taliban’s deputy prime minister.
The palace claimed that Al-Khulaifi stated the absence of Taliban representatives renders such meetings “ineffective” and that he has made Qatar’s position clear to the United Nations.
The Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs has not commented on this matter.
In a separate statement, the Taliban-controlled presidential palace said Abdul Salam Hanafi, the Taliban’s deputy prime minister for administrative affairs, asked Qatar to invest in the mining, health, energy, and transportation sectors.
Meanwhile, the Taliban’s Ministry of Defense wrote on X that the Qatari delegation, during a meeting with Taliban Defense Minister Mohammad Yaqoob Mujahid, emphasized the need to “strengthen friendly relations with the people of Afghanistan.”
Qatari officials have not yet commented on these meetings.
Taliban denied to attend the second Doha meeting on Afghanistan in February. UN chief Antonio Guterres said Taliban absence did not impact the meeting.
