UN announces third special envoys meeting on Afghanistan to be held in Qatar

The third meeting of special envoys on Afghanistan will take place in Doha from June 30 - July 1, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Tuesday.

"The meeting will discuss how to advance international engagement on Afghanistan in a more coherent, coordinated and structured manner," Dujarric told the reporters.

UN Under-Secretary-General for Peacebuilding and Political Affairs Rosemary DiCarlo will chair the meeting on behalf of the UN chief, he said, adding that 30 countries and international institutions have been invited.

On July 2, DiCarlo and the special envoys are set to meet with representatives of Afghan civil society, including human rights and women’s rights advocates, he said.

The Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), Roza Otunbayeva, will also take part in the Doha discussions.

"The Doha discussions are part of a process; they are not a one-off. The ultimate objective of this process is an Afghanistan at peace with itself and its neighbors, fully integrated into the international community and meeting its international obligations, including on human rights, particularly those of women and girls," DiCarlo also said in a statement.

The Taliban returned to rule Afghanistan in August 2021 after more than two decades of war.

The interim setup continues to impose numerous rules and policies, violating a range of fundamental rights of women and girls,

Afghanistan is also facing hunger and the risk of malnutrition and poverty, a near-collapse of the national public health system and natural disasters.