- Report says special representative, assistant secretary to represent Pakistan in talks scheduled for this weekend
- Progress on recognising Afghan Taliban out of question: Report
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has decided to participate in the United Nations-hosted talks on Afghanistan in the Qatari capital scheduled for this weekend, according to a private TV channel citing diplomatic sources on Thursday.
The report says that Pakistan’s Special Representative on Afghanistan Asif Durrani and Ahmad Naseem Warraich, assistant secretary for West Asia in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, will represent Pakistan in the talks.
Earlier this month, Taliban authorities also confirmed their participation in the third round of the Doha talks scheduled to start on June 30, a Taliban spokesperson had told AFP after snubbing an invitation to the previous round.
It should be noted that Pakistan has times and again requested the Taliban government to stop cross-border terrorism from Afghanistan into Pakistan by preventing its territory from being used by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and other terrorist groups.
The diplomatic sources said the Afghan Taliban’s interim government had boycotted the second Doha talks of 2024 over the participation of women and civil society representatives.
It would be the first time that Afghanistan’s interim administration will sit face to face with special representatives on Afghanistan from different parts of the world, they maintained.
The sources said prior to the Doha talks, the United Nations held consultations with representatives of the Afghan civil society present inside and outside Afghanistan.
After completion of the talks, representatives of the civil society members and women would hold discussion with the special representatives on Afghanistan on July 2.
“In the third Doha talks, progress on recognising the Afghan Taliban and Afghanistan’s interim government is out of the question,” the diplomatic sources added.
