Doha Meeting: UN Holds 4 Sessions, No Taliban 4 Afghan Participants

The first meeting will be held on Sunday, February 18Th, in Doha, the capital of Qatar, without the presence of Taliban representatives.

In the fourth session of this meeting, special country representatives on Afghan affairs, along with four civil society activists and women's rights defenders, will meet with the UN Secretary-General, according to the reports.

Lotfullah Najafizada, representing civil society activists, along with Mahbouba Serraj, Mitra Mehran, and Shah Gul Rezaei, representing women's rights activists, will participate in this session.

According to the reports, three consecutive meetings between countries' representatives under the leadership of the UN Secretary-General will be held to discuss four areas, including global consensus to support Afghanistan, how to exert pressure on the Taliban and establish a political solution to the current chaotic situation in the country.

The Taliban were also invited to the UN-Doha meeting but they announced that their conditions were not accepted by the United Nations and therefore they would not participate in this session.

The Taliban had two conditions: firstly, they requested a meeting at the level of the UN Secretary-General, and secondly, they insisted on being the sole representatives of the country. Both of these conditions were rejected by the UN.

Inviting the Taliban to the Doha session faced strong opposition from political groups and women protesters.

In the past week, many organizations and women activists sent letters to country representatives, urging the United Nations to acknowledge the Taliban's human rights violations as“gender apartheid” in Afghanistan.

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