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Taliban discuss Kabul airport ops in official meet with Dutch delegates in Doha

By | Written by Avik Roy, New Delhi
Sep 01, 2021 07:48 PM IST

The discussion centred on the evolving situation in Afghanistan, operations of the international airport in Kabul as well as travel of Afghan and foreign nationals into the war-torn country.

The Taliban reached out to a delegation of Dutch foreign ministry in Doha on Wednesday, in their first diplomatic contact with the European nation.

The Taliban leadership has been establishing contacts with a number of countries through its political office in Doha. (File photo)
The Taliban leadership has been establishing contacts with a number of countries through its political office in Doha. (File photo)

A Taliban spokesperson, Mohammad Naeem, said the head of their political office in Doha, Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanekzai, met with a delegation of foreign ministry officials from the Netherlands to discuss on the evolving situation in Afghanistan, operations of the international airport in Kabul as well as travel of Afghan and foreign nationals into the war-torn country, according to Afghanistan's television news channel Tolo News.

Days after the United States pulled out the last of its troops from Afghanistan, the Taliban leadership has been establishing contacts with a number of countries through its political office in Doha.

On Tuesday, the Taliban's Stanekzai met India’s ambassador to Qatar, Deepak Mittal, at the Indian embassy in Doha. It was India's first officially acknowledged contact with the Taliban since its formation in 90s.

During the meeting, India raised the issues of safe return of its citizens still stranded in Afghanistan and concerns about Afghan soil being used for anti-India activities and terrorism. Stankezai reported assured the Indian ambassador that these issues would be "positively addressed".

ALSO READ | India should play a constructive role in Afghanistan: Pak ambassador to China

On the other hand, the negotiations between the Taliban and the leaders of the resistance against the Islamist outfit and tribal elders in Panjshir have come a cropper. Panjshir Valley has evolved into an epicentre of resistance against the Taliban after the Afghan capital, Kabul, fell to the hardliners on August 15. The resistance, called the Northern Alliance, a coalition of ethnic Uzbek and Tajik forces concentrated in Panjshir Valley, has since vowed to continue fighting the Taliban.

Meanwhile, the Taliban have reportedly reached a consensus with other Afghan leaders on the formation of a new government in Kabul, under the leadership of the outfit's supreme commander Haibatullah Akhundzada and Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar.

A senior Taliban leader said late last month there would be no democratic system at all in Afghanistan because it "does not have any base" in the country, while highlighting that the new regime would impose the Shariah law.



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