The United States has canceled a scheduled meeting with the Taliban in Qatar.
US envoys were due to discuss economic issues with the group in Qatar following the Taliban’s agreement to allow girls to return to school in Afghanistan.
On Wednesday (April 23rd), two days after the Taliban agreed to reopen all schools in Afghanistan, including girls ‘schools, the group withdrew its position, announcing that girls’ high schools (secondary and high schools) were “Second” will still be closed to female students.
The cancellation of the meeting is the first serious sign that the Taliban’s decisions on human rights and inclusion will directly affect the international community’s willingness to help the group.
Meanwhile, Deborah Lyons, the UN special envoy for Afghanistan, warned on Friday during a meeting with a Taliban representative in Doha on Friday that the group’s ban on girls’ education would cause irreparable damage to Afghanistan.
In New York, the Security Council also held a closed-door meeting on the issue of girls’ education and the Taliban’s recent decision.
Prior to the meeting, the ambassadors of Albania, Britain, Brazil, France, Gabon, Ireland, Mexico, Norway, the United States and the United Arab Emirates issued a joint statement calling the Taliban’s decision an annoying setback.
The United States abruptly canceled a meeting with Taliban officials in Doha on the grounds that the Taliban had closed girls’ schools to “second place” despite their commitment, Reuters reported.
Representatives of the United States and the Taliban delegation were scheduled to meet in Doha to discuss major economic issues.
The cancellation of the talks is the first serious sign by the United States of the Taliban’s recent decision because the group has not fulfilled its human rights commitments, Reuters reported.
Reuters also reported that the Taliban’s recent actions could have a direct impact on the international community’s willingness to cooperate with the group. The Taliban violated their commitment to reopen girls’ schools, while some Taliban leaders are still under US sanctions.
“Their decision is deeply disappointing and incomprehensible and contrary to their commitments to the Afghan people and the international community,” a State Department spokeswoman told Reuters.
A State Department spokesman said the United States had canceled some of its engagements, including those previously scheduled in Doha, and had explicitly stated that the move would be a “potential turning point” in its engagement with the Taliban.
Three informed sources told Reuters that a series of meetings between US officials and Taliban representatives were scheduled for Saturday and Sunday on the sidelines of a meeting in the Qatari capital Doha, but due to the Taliban blocking secondary and high schools. In Afghanistan, these meetings were canceled by US officials in Qatar.
The sources, who did not want to be named in the report, said that representatives of the United Nations and the World Bank were also scheduled to attend some of the meetings, and on the independence of the Central Bank of Afghanistan, printing of the Afghan currency (Afghani) And discuss other major issues.
A Taliban foreign ministry spokesman confirmed that a Taliban delegation, including Amir Khan Mottaqi, the acting foreign minister, was waiting to visit Doha.
A diplomatic source said the Qatari plane that was supposed to transport the delegation had not arrived in Kabul.
