Qatar foreign minister visits Kabul, meets Taliban PM: Reports

Qatari foreign minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani held talks with Taliban Prime Minister Mullah Muhammad Hassan Akhund in Kabul, according to reports.

Mohammed met the prime minister and a number of other senior ministers, a Taliban spokesman said on Sunday.

“The meeting focused on bilateral relations, humanitarian assistance, economic development and interaction with the world,” according to a statement from Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen.

Shaheen said the leadership of the Islamic Emirate, the term used to describe the Taliban government in Afghanistan, thanked the Qatar government for supporting the Afghan people.

It said the Doha agreement, signed by the United States and the Taliban, was a “landmark achievement, all sides should adhere to its implementation.”

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Sunday’s meeting in the presidential palace, first reported by Al Jazeera television, was attended by a number of other Afghan ministers including deputy Prime Minister Abdul Salam Hanafi, Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi, Defence Minister Yaqoob Mujahid, Interor Minister Sirajuddin Haqqani and intelligence chief Abdul Haq Wasiq.

Qatar is considered one of the countries with the most influence over the Taliban and played a pivotal role in the massive US-led airlift of its own citizens, other Western nationals and Afghans who helped Western countries

The Qatari capital Doha was also the home of the Taliban’s political office which oversaw the negotiations with the United States that eventually led to the withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan.

(With inputs from agencies)