{"id":61616,"date":"2024-02-18T17:19:05","date_gmt":"2024-02-18T17:19:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/afghanistan-special-envoys-meet-in-doha\/"},"modified":"2024-02-18T17:19:05","modified_gmt":"2024-02-18T17:19:05","slug":"afghanistan-special-envoys-meet-in-doha","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/afghanistan-special-envoys-meet-in-doha\/","title":{"rendered":"Afghanistan special envoys meet in Doha"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

National and regional special envoys to Afghanistan convened in Doha on Sunday in the second UN meeting of its kind in less than a year, though it remained unclear whether Taliban authorities would join the closed-session event.<\/p>\n

The two-day meeting, hosted by the UN secretary general, was due to discuss increasing engagement with Afghanistan and a more coordinated response to the Central Asian nation.<\/p>\n

In the aftermath of the Taliban\u2019s return<\/a> to power in Afghanistan in 2021, the international community has wrestled with its approach to the country\u2019s new rulers.<\/p>\n

On the first day of the convention in gas-rich Qatar, which hosted the Taliban during years of peace talks with the United States, the Kabul government\u2019s participation remained unclear.<\/p>\n

Though the Afghan foreign ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment on plans to attend, the secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council wrote on X, formerly Twitter, that it was \u201cdisappointing that the Taliban declined to attend the special envoy meeting\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe urge all sides to do more to hammer out deals that can benefit the long-suffering Afghan people,\u201d Jan Egeland said.<\/p>\n

The UN had extended an invitation to the Taliban authorities to participate, following their exclusion from the first meeting<\/a> in May.<\/p>\n

Organisers pushed to include voices from civil society inside and outside Afghanistan including women and from the media and businesses at the Doha convention.<\/p>\n

A senior diplomatic source told AFP<\/em> ahead of the meeting the Taliban government had said it would only attend as the sole representative of Afghanistan at the convention \u2014 excluding civil society representatives.<\/p>\n

A second demand was that the Taliban government delegation meet with the UN secretary general and be given an opportunity to present its position, the source said on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of discussions.<\/p>\n

\n