The White House State Department says US diplomats will meet Afghan officials in Doha, Qatar, to discuss humanitarian issues and critical interests. US diplomats will meet the Afghan ruling group, which will be the rare direct talk between Washington and Afghan officials.

On Wednesday, State Department announced Thomas West and Rina Amiri would conduct meetings on Afghanistan in Astana, Kazakhstan, with some officials from Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. Thomas West is the American special representative for Afghanistan, and Rina Amiri is the United States envoy for Afghan women, girls, and human rights.

Both senior US representatives will meet the delegation of Taliban officials and other Afghan ministry officials in the capital Doha, Qatar. During their Doha meeting, the State Department stated that Amiri and West would discuss matters of critical interest in Afghanistan. These issues will be of top priority to address with the Afghan officials, including:

• Women and girls security issues
• A good and proper treatment of all Afghan citizens
• Efforts for a stable economy
• Human rights issues
• Efforts to tackle the narcotics production and supply

The United States deployed its forces in Afghanistan for 20 years and called them back in August 2021, and the country’ Western-supported government crashed. The Taliban group took over with complete control.

The United States Continuously invaded Afghanistan for more than 20 years since the incident of 9-11, when two planes flown by terrorists hit American World Trade Center Twin Tower, and several people died in that attack. That deadly attack shook America and the whole world with terror. America fought a long war that took a big part of the US economy.

America Not Willing To Recognize Taliban Government

Now Taliban are in government in Afghanistan, but America still doesn’t recognize it. America has also imposed several sanctions on the Kabul government and some of its representatives. State Department mentioned on Wednesday that the US would not change its position amid the following meeting in Doha. Moreover, further explaining the matter, the spokesperson Vedant Patel told the media that the White House would keep engaging with the Taliban appropriately for its interest, and they were evident in their stance. America is holding its position for not recognizing the Taliban government but still wants a chain of talks to discuss issues of interest.

Furthermore, Patel said the meetings or talks would not mean that America would recognize the Taliban or indication for any legislation in normalizing the relations. After taking complete control of Afghanistan, they have faced much criticism worldwide, even from some Islamic countries, especially regarding restrictions imposed on women’s education in the country. The group holding the government banned women from attending universities and prohibited them from schools after grade 6. Recently this month, they even put a ban on women’s beauty parlors.

Last year, US Secretary of the State Antony Blinken warned the Taliban of the consequences if they do not make legislation in their policy regarding Women’s education. Blinken added they had talked to some other countries, and there would be a cost if the policies were not revisited or reversed. The humanitarian crisis is still a major issue in the Afghan region as, according to World Food Programme; they supplied food to half of the country’s population, around 23 million people, last year. Taliban has shown some leniency in working with America if Washington lifts the sanctions.