Qatar urges engagement with Taliban amid humanitarian crisis
Al Jazeera
Qatari official Mutlaq al-Qahtani says recognising Taliban gov’t ‘not a priority’ as Afghanistan faces host of issues.
Qatar believes that recognising the Taliban government in Afghanistan is not a priority now, and that the focus should be on engaging with the new administration and addressing humanitarian issues, a senior Qatari official has said.
Mutlaq al-Qahtani, special envoy of the Qatari foreign minister, called on Tuesday for other countries to engage more deeply with the Taliban as Afghanistan’s de facto authority, while urging the group to act as a “responsible” administration and respect the right of women to work and girls to attend school.
“We think this [recognition] is not a priority. What’s more a priority as we speak now is the humanitarian, is the education, is free passage of passengers,” al-Qahtani said at a global security forum in Doha.