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Afghanistan
ChinaDiplomacy

First US-Taliban talks offer some stability but not much else for either side

  • US State Department says discussions were candid and professional but ‘the Taliban will be judged on its actions, not only its words’
  • The talks came ahead of a G20 meeting on Tuesday to discuss Afghanistan

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Taliban members pray in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Saturday. Photo: Reuters
Rachel Zhangin Shanghai
The United States may provide humanitarian aid to Afghanistan but the Taliban and the US remain far apart on core demands after talks in Doha, according to Chinese analysts.
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US representatives held talks with a Taliban delegation in the Qatari capital on the weekend in the first meeting between the two sides since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan in August as US and Nato troops withdrew.

“The two sides also discussed the United States’ provision of robust humanitarian assistance directly to the Afghan people,” the US Department of State said in a statement on Sunday.

“The discussions were candid and professional with the US delegation reiterating that the Taliban will be judged on its actions, not only its words.”

The head of the Taliban delegation, acting foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi, said the US had promised to provide humanitarian aid, including Covid-19 vaccines, to Afghanistan. The minister also said Taliban representatives had demanded that the US unfreeze the reserves of Afghanistan’s central bank.
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