Afghanistan: The Taliban try to break the isolation of their regime in Qatar | International

The Taliban delegation sent to Qatar over the weekend tried to unblock the international isolation that the international community has subjected Kabul to since the establishment of the Islamic Emirate in August. Between Saturday and Sunday, he held the first talks with the United States authorities since the end of the 20-year occupation. The fundamentalist guerrillas, with the country’s accounts abroad blocked, are concerned that they will not be able to face the humanitarian and economic crisis that affects a significant part of the population.

Concern about growing insecurity has been another of the issues discussed in Doha, the Qatari capital. Afghanistan has suffered in less than a week two suicide attacks claimed by the Islamic State against mosques. One in Kabul with at least three dead and another in Kunduz with at least fifty.

Trying to get humanitarian aid to the Afghan population – as well as salaries to the public sector – without giving official recognition support to the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan established in August is one of the great issues to be resolved.

Meanwhile, the atmosphere of psychosis in the face of new attacks has been increasing in the last hours in Kabul. Armed Taliban kept the avenue that passes in front of the Serena hotel closed to traffic on Sunday afternoon. Hundreds of children trying to return home after leaving school were forced to go through the fence that surrounds the park opposite. The Serena is the favorite hotel for foreign customers and a regular place for diplomatic meetings and high-level visits. Also on Sunday messages began to run through WhatsApp warning of the increase in the level of threat.

The British and North American diplomacies confirmed this risk on Monday, especially regarding that luxury hotel establishment. “Due to security threats, we recommend that North American citizens avoid staying there [en el Serena] as well as the area where it is located [el hotel]”Says the website of the US State Department cited by the agency France Presse.

Even the delegation of the Emirate sent to Doha has come the warning of the risk of new attacks. Kabul was the scene on Sunday, October 3, of an attack perpetrated by a kamikaze who blew himself up next to a mosque, causing at least three deaths. The action was claimed by the terrorist group Islamic State. Only five days later this same gang carried out an attack also by means of a suicide bomber that left at least 50 fatalities in a Shiite mosque in Kunduz, north of Kabul.

Humanitarian aid

In a statement from the spokesman for the Foreign Ministry of the interim Taliban government, Abbdul Qahar Balkhi, it is specified that, at the Doha meeting, “political issues” were discussed in detail, as well as the issue of humanitarian aid. Both issues, maintains the radical guerrilla, should not be linked. “The US representatives indicated that they will provide humanitarian assistance to Afghans, and facilitate the delivery of aid from other humanitarian organizations,” said Balkhi.

The Taliban have multiplied their contacts with the international community to ensure the distribution of humanitarian aid, while international organizations have indicated that Afghanistan is at risk of sinking further into a serious economic and social crisis resulting from four decades of war.

The capture of Kabul on August 15 by the fundamentalists has notably aggravated this situation. The Taliban have in turn asked Washington to unblock international funds suspended by many countries and institutions after the collapse of the previous government.

“The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan [talibanes] he considered that the best way to solve the problems is to implement the Doha agreement, “said Balkhi, referring to the agreement reached in February 2020 between both parties that marked the final withdrawal of US troops from the country. The Taliban have indicated that both parties have agreed that “similar meetings will be held in the future if necessary”, leaving the door open to new meetings but without specifying whether they will take place or a precise date.

The US government called the negotiations “frank” on Sunday and reiterated that the Taliban “will be judged for their actions, not their words,” said State Department spokesman Ned Price in a statement released in Washington.

The US delegation affirmed that the dialogue at the meeting with members of the fundamentalist guerrillas focused on security and terrorism, as well as the safe departure of their citizens, those of other countries, and their Afghan allies.

The Taliban have maintained a somewhat more moderate discourse that suggests a certain openness with respect to their first period in power in Afghanistan, between 1996 and 2001, marked by human rights violations. However, his new administration, as it did then, has restricted women’s rights and reports of other human rights abuses are on the rise.

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