CAIRO: Taliban representatives asked the United States to lift a ban on Afghan central bank reserves at a meeting with US counterparts in Doha, Afghanistan’s acting foreign minister said on Saturday in remarks reported by Qatar-based Al-Jazeera television.
The minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi, also said Washington would offer Afghans coronavirus vaccines, Al-Jazeera reported, after the first senior face-to-face meeting between the two sides since the hardline group took over the country in August following a US troop pullout.
The minister added that the Afghan delegation and US counterparts discussed “opening a new page” between the two countries, adversaries during the United States’ two-decade long occupation of Afghanistan.
Washington and other Western countries are grappling with difficult choices as a severe humanitarian crisis looms large over Afghanistan. They are trying to formulate how to engage with the Taliban without granting it the legitimacy it seeks while ensuring humanitarian aid flows into the country.
The departure of US-led forces and many international donors robbed the country of grants that financed 75% of public spending, according to the World Bank.
Speaking to Reuters earlier in Washington, a US official said that while there was an improvement for humanitarian actors to get access to some areas that they haven’t been to in a decade, problems still persisted, adding that the US delegation at the Doha talks would press the Taliban to improve.
Mutaki also said that the Afghan delegation focus at the meeting was humanitarian aid and implementing Doha agreement.
He said the discussions would continue on Saturday and would resume on Sunday. Mutaki added the Afghan delegation will meet European Union representatives to discuss latest developments, but he didn’t mention when the meeting will be held.
‘Talks to revisit the peace accord of 2020’:
Earlier in the day, Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen, who is based in Doha, told The Associated Press on Saturday that the talks will also revisit the peace agreement the Taliban signed with Washington in 2020.
The agreement had paved the way for the final US withdrawal.
“Yes there is a meeting… about bilateral relations and implementation of the Doha agreement,” said Shaheen. “It covers various topics.”
“Terrorism will also feature in the talks,” said a second official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media.
Since the Taliban took power, the militant group Islamic State have ramped up attacks on the group, as well as ethnic and religious minorities.
On Friday, an IS suicide bomber killed at least 55 worshippers at a Shia mosque and wounded dozens in the deadliest attack since the US departure.
The IS has carried out relentless assaults on the country’s Shias since emerging in eastern Afghanistan in 2014. IS is also seen as the greatest threat to the United States.
The US-Taliban agreement of 2020, which was negotiated by the Trump administration, demanded the Taliban break ties with terrorist groups and guarantee Afghanistan would not again harbour terrorists who could attack the United States and its allies.
It seems certain the two sides will discuss in the weekend talks how to tackle the growing threat.
The Taliban have said they do not want US anti-terrorism assistance and have warned Washington against any so-called “over-the -horizon” strikes on Afghan territory from outside the country’s borders.
‘US to press Taliban to fulfil commitments’:
The United States, meanwhile, would seek to hold Taliban leaders to commitments that they would allow Americans and other foreign nationals to leave Afghanistan, along with Afghans who once worked for the US military or government and other Afghan allies, a US official said.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the person was not authorised to speak by name about the meetings.
The Biden administration has fielded questions and complaints about the slow pace of US-facilitated evacuations from Taliban-ruled Afghanistan since the US withdrawal.
State Department spokesman Ned Price said on Thursday that 105 US citizens and 95 green card holders had left since then on flights facilitated by the US. That number had not changed for more than a week.
US veterans and other individuals have helped others leave the country on charter flights, and some Americans and others have gotten out across land borders.
Hundreds of other foreign nationals and Afghans have also left on recent flights.
Dozens of American citizens are still seeking to get out, according to the State Department, along with thousands of green-card holders and Afghans and family members believed eligible for US visas.
US officials have cited the difficulty of verifying flight manifests without any American officials on the ground in Afghanistan to help, along with other hold-ups.
Americans also intend to press the Taliban to observe the rights of women and girls, many of whom the Taliban are reportedly blocking from returning to jobs and classrooms, and of Afghans at large, and to form an inclusive government, the official said.
US officials will also encourage Taliban officials to give humanitarian agencies free access to areas in need amid the economic upheaval following the US departure and Taliban takeover.
The official said it was not clear whether the US will recognise the Taliban as legitimate governors of the country.
