Taliban decline to attend regional meeting on Afghanistan in Tehran

Islamabad: The Afghan government has declined to participate in a regional meeting on Afghanistan held in Tehran, a senior Taliban diplomat said on Saturday.

Zakir Jalaly, the third political director of the foreign ministry, wrote on X that the Afghan government expects that established mechanisms should be used for discussions on Afghanistan, not new ones.

Special representatives of Iran, Pakistan, Russia, and China are meeting in Tehran today to discuss Afghanistan.

The United Nations is set to hold an international meeting of various countries' special representatives for Afghanistan later this month in Doha, with the aim of increasing international cooperation on the country.

The Taliban did not participate in the previous round of the Doha meeting in February. Jalaly added that the Taliban is engaged in talks about the upcoming Doha meeting.

In December, the UN Security Council adopted a resolution calling for the appointment of a special envoy for Afghanistan. The Taliban have consistently been against this.

Since returning to power in 2021, the Taliban have rejected calls for the formation of an inclusive government and to ensure women's rights to education and work.

As a result, no country has recognized their government. The country’s banking reserves are frozen in the West, and senior Taliban leaders are on US sanctions lists.

On Wednesday, the UN Security Council lifted travel restrictions on four senior Taliban government leaders. The bans were removed for their visit to Mecca, Saudi Arabia where they will perform the annual Muslim pilgrimage of Hajj.