RASC News Agency: On Tuesday, Thomas Nicholson, the European Union’s Special Representative for Afghanistan, stated that excluding Afghanistan civil society representatives from the third round of Doha talks was a price worth paying to engage with the Taliban. Speaking to AFP, Nicholson remarked that this concession was “worth it.”
He added, “To have the opportunity to engage with the Taliban, who attended, and to speak with civil society and private sector representatives… in my opinion, it was worth it.” Previously, the Taliban had conditioned their participation in the Doha talks on the exclusion of Afghanistan civil society representatives. The talks were held and concluded without the presence of women and civil society activists.
Meanwhile, the United Nations held a side meeting for civil society representatives on the third day. However, according to media reports from Doha, many special representatives of various countries did not attend. Some invited women boycotted the third day’s session in protest of the exclusion of human rights from the agenda. Zubaida Akbar and Nabila Mosleh, among the invited women, boycotted both the main and the side meetings.
Nicholson provided a positive assessment of the Doha talks. He stated, “I think it was a good discussion. We are aware of the controversies surrounding this meeting. Some members of civil society boycotted the meeting for various reasons, and I understand their reasons.” He described the discussions with the Taliban about the economic situation and the fight against narcotics as “a good start,” but noted that there were no commitments from either the Taliban or the EU to change the situation at this time.
He emphasized that the talks with Taliban officials were better than expected. According to him, discussions with the Taliban about the private sector and the country’s economy were positive, and “we found common ground.” However, the EU representative admitted that the meeting did not address the issue of violations of Afghanistani women’s rights.
He stated, “Does this meeting satisfy a girl who has been confined to her home for a thousand days without a proper school? Probably not. But I think it was not a realistic expectation that we could resolve this in three days.” He also noted that the Taliban clearly wanted to continue this process and that more sessions should be held.
