Taliban praise ‘spirit of cooperation’ of UN talks

The Taliban government praised on Wednesday the “spirit of cooperation” towards Afghanistan in UN-led talks that excluded women from the country.

Foreign officials “had a good spirit of cooperation vis-a-vis Afghanistan and we could see that their policies for Afghanistan have positively changed”, Taliban government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told a news conference in Kabul. “Afghanistan has come out of isolation” and “an atmosphere of trust has been created”, he added.

“As this meeting was organised as per Afghanistan’s demands and in consideration of our national interests, we were able to participate and to inform the world of our position,” Mujahid said.

“We told the countries that Afghanistan’s internal issues -- issues related to its people and women -- are Afghanistan’s issues,” Mujahid said.

“It should not be used for countries to apply political pressure.”

This round of Doha talks centred on efforts to bolster Afghanistan’s private sector and support counter-narcotics work in a country that has historically been the largest producer of opium.

The process was launched to discuss increasing and coordinating engagement with Afghanistan.

The UN was criticised for only including civil society organisations,