DUBAI: Isolating Afghanistan and its new Taliban rulers will never be the answer, Qatar’s foreign minister said and argued on Wednesday that engaging with former rebels could empower more moderate voices among them.
Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani spoke amid a flurry of diplomatic meetings taking place in Qatar, where the Taliban has maintained a political office for years in the lead-up to its takeover of Afghanistan in August.
The world is looking to see how the Taliban transitioned from two decades of insurgency and war to rule, when they captured Kabul and the rest of Afghanistan as US and NATO forces withdrew from the country.
This week, representatives from the United States, 10 European countries and the European Union held face to face conversation This is the first such meeting with Taliban leaders in Qatar’s capital Doha since the Taliban attack.
Al Thani told an audience of counter-terrorism experts in Doha that Qatar believes that the international community should urge and encourage the Taliban to take the right steps, rather than merely punishing them for negative steps. Do it. We see that it is very important for them to provide guidance,” he said. This will create an impetus for progress and the way forward.” Al Thani said it would help provide an incentive for the liberal power (Voice) to be more influential and more effective in his government.
US State Department spokesman Ned Price said Washington made it clear in talks with the Taliban this week that the group would be judged by their actions on issues related to combating terrorism and protecting human rights.
He declined to discuss the various carrot and stick methods related to Afghanistan’s central bank reserves, currently frozen abroad and inaccessible to the Taliban leadership.
“We have worked with the Taliban on a pragmatic and pragmatic basis, as we have done in recent weeks, focusing on security and terrorism concerns,” Price told reporters in Washington on Tuesday. The Taliban and the US share similar concerns about the militant Islamic State group in Afghanistan, but the Taliban have refused to cooperate With America in fighting IS.
However, the most pressing issue facing Afghanistan is deepening poverty, as the country relies heavily on international aid. Its financial system is crumbling and millions of people are facing hunger. The Taliban is struggling to pay the salaries of most teachers, doctors and some half a million civil servants. Food prices have risen and the country is struggling to import the drug as it is blocked from the global financial system.
The European Union announced a support package on Tuesday 1 billion euro ($1.15 billion), including 300 million euros ($346 million) previously earmarked to help the Afghan people amid the crisis. The United States, the largest donor to Afghanistan, provided $330 million this year.
Isolation will never be the answer, Al Thani said at the Global Security Forum in Doha. Engagement with anyone ruling Afghanistan is needed because leaving Afghanistan would be a big mistake.
Published in Dawn, October 14, 2021
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