Taliban authorities will participate in the third round of United Nations-hosted talks on Afghanistan in Qatar’s capital, a government spokesman announced on Sunday, after previously rejecting an invitation to the last round.
The Taliban government’s involvement in the conference of foreign special envoys to Afghanistan had been uncertain after being excluded from the first round and declining an invitation to the second round in February.
“A delegation of the Islamic Emirate will participate in the coming Doha conference. They will represent Afghanistan there and express Afghanistan’s position,” Zabihullah Mujahid told AFP.
The talks in Doha are scheduled for June 30 and July 1.
Mujahid told Afghan media on Sunday that a delegation — yet to be announced — would attend because the agenda of the talks seemed “beneficial to Afghanistan.”
The agenda includes “topics such as aid for Afghanistan and creating opportunities for investors in Afghanistan, which are important,” he said.
Civil society groups, including women, were invited to the February talks, but the Taliban government refused to participate unless its members could be the sole representatives of Afghanistan.
