Al-Thani, in addition to meeting several ministers of the new Taliban government, also met with former President Hamid Karzai

Qatar's foreign minister travels to Kabul to meet with the Taliban

photo_camera AFP/FARROQ NAEEM - Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani during a press conference in Islamabad on September 9, 2021.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani, the Qatari Foreign Minister, has met with the Taliban. Al-Thani is the highest-level foreign diplomat to visit the country since the insurgents seized power on 15 August.
The Qatari minister urged the new Afghan government to "engage all Afghan parties in national reconciliation". In fact, after the meeting with the Taliban, Al-Thani met with former President Hamid Karzai and Abdullah Abdullah, head of the National Reconciliation Council.

With Prime Minister Mullah Muhammad Hasan Akhund, Al-Thani discussed ways to improve peace in the country and the safe passage of people, the Qatari ministry said. Terrorism, a major challenge in the region, was also on the agenda. Al-Thani and the new leader Akhund discussed "concerted efforts to combat terrorist organisations that threaten the stability of Afghanistan".

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IS-K (Islamic State of Khorasan) is the most relevant group in the area, and also the one that creates the most threats. IS-K is at odds with the Taliban as it accuses them of abandoning jihad and the battlefield for negotiations in "posh hotels", a reference to the Doha Accords with the US. However, the Haqqadi network, which is closely linked to the Taliban, is also linked to the jihadist organisation.

Naeem Wardak, a Taliban spokesman, said that during the meeting the two sides 'discussed bilateral relations, humanitarian aid, the future economic development of Afghanistan and international relations with the Islamic Emirate'. Within this economic development, China will play a key role. Beijing has offered the Taliban support to rebuild the national economy in exchange for the Taliban's complete disassociation from terrorist groups.

The Taliban also claim that the Qatari minister 'congratulated' the Islamist movement on the 'conquest' and highlighted the good relations between Doha and Kabul.

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Also present at the meeting, in addition to Akhund, were Defence Minister Yaqoob Mujahid, Deputy Prime Minister Abdul Salam Hanafi, Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqui, Intelligence Chief Abdul Haq Wasiq and Sirajuddin Haqqani, leader of the Haqqani network and current Afghan Interior Minister. In 2008 Haqqani admitted involvement in an attack on a hotel in Kabul that killed six people, including a US citizen. In the same year, he also admitted to masterminding a plot to assassinate former Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who was elected during the early years of the US intervention.

Haqqani, a hardliner in the movement, was involved in more attacks and kidnapped American journalist David Stephenson, then working for The New York Times. For all this, Haqqani is being targeted by the FBI, which is seeking him for 'questioning in connection with the January 2008 attack on a hotel in Kabul'.  The US agency also states that 'he is believed to have coordinated and participated in cross-border attacks against US and coalition forces in Afghanistan'.

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Qatar has been a key supporter of the Taliban for years. Doha maintains great influence over the movement and has organised the negotiations between the insurgents and the US that made the Doha Accords possible. Qatar was also instrumental in recent evacuations of foreign nationals from Kabul airport. Although no country has yet formally recognised the new Afghan government, Al-Thani's visit may be the prelude to Qatar's recognition of the Taliban.

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