Qatar warns against isolation of Taliban

KABUL (Pajhwok): Qatar has warned against the isolation of the Taliban who took control of Afghanistan a fortnight ago.

Al-Arabiya quoted Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani as saying on Tuesday that recognising the Taliban’s government was not a priority.

“We believe that without engagement, we cannot reach…real progress on the security front or on the socioeconomic front,” the minister remarked.

“If we start to put conditions and stop engagement, we are going to leave a vacuum, and the question is, who is going to fill this vacuum?” he asked.

About a recent meeting between Qatari officials and the Taliban, he said there was no positive or negative response from the group that was urged to help combat terrorism.

The minister added: “We stressed the importance of cooperation on combating terrorism …”

Last week, the White House ruled out rushing to recognise the legitimacy of the Taliban government by the US or its allies.

PAN Monitor/mud

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