Qatar urges Taliban to cease fire at meeting in Doha

Head of the Taliban delegation Abdul Salam Hanafi (R), accompanied by Taliban officials (2R to L) Amir Khan Muttaqi, Shahabuddin Delawar and Abdul Latif Mansour, walks down a hotel lobby during the talks in Qatar’s capital Doha on 12 August 2021. [KARIM JAAFAR/AFP via Getty Images]

Qatar said it had urged the Taliban to cease fire and pull back their offensive in Afghanistan during a meeting between the Qatari foreign minister and a top representative of the Afghan insurgents in Doha on Saturday, Reuters reports.

Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani met the head of the Taliban’s political bureau, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, to follow up on peace talks hosted by the Gulf country, the Qatari foreign ministry said in a statement on its website.

“The foreign minister urged the Taliban at the meeting to let up the escalation and to cease fire,” it said.

Envoys from the United States, China, Pakistan, the United Nations, the European Union and others met Taliban representatives and Afghan government officials on Thursday in Doha.

The statement issued following that meeting reaffirmed that foreign capitals would not recognise any government in Afghanistan “imposed through the use of military force”.

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