Taliban, U.S. envoys hold talks
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — The Taliban on Saturday ruled out cooperation with the United States to contain extremist groups in Afghanistan, staking out an uncompromising position on a key issue ahead of the first direct talks between the former foes since America withdrew from the country in August.
Senior Taliban officials and U.S. representatives are meeting this weekend in Doha, the capital of Qatar. Officials from both sides have said issues include reining in extremist groups and the evacuation of foreign citizens and Afghans from the country. The Taliban has signaled flexibility on evacuations.
However, Taliban political spokesman Suhail Shaheen told the Associated Press there would be no cooperation with Washington on containing the increasingly active Islamic State group in Afghanistan. Islamic State has taken responsibility for a number of recent attacks, including a suicide bombing Friday that killed 46 minority Shiite Muslims and wounded dozens as they prayed in a mosque in the northern city of Kunduz.
“We are able to tackle Daesh independently,” Shaheen said, using an Arabic term for Islamic State, when asked whether the Taliban would work with the U.S. to contain the group’s affiliate in Afghanistan.
Islamic State has carried out relentless assaults on the country’s Shiites since emerging in eastern Afghanistan in 2014. It is also seen as the terrorist group that poses the greatest threat to the United States.
The weekend meetings in Doha are the first since U.S. forces withdrew from Afghanistan in late August, ending a 20-year military presence, as the Taliban overran the country. The U.S. has made it clear the talks are not a prelude to formal recognition.
The talks also come on the heels of two days of difficult discussions between Pakistani officials and U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman in Islamabad that focused on Afghanistan. Pakistani officials urged the U.S. to engage with Afghanistan’s new rulers and release billions of dollars in international funds to stave off an economic meltdown.
Pakistan also had a message for the Taliban, urging it to become more inclusive and pay attention to human rights and minority ethnic and religious groups.
Afghanistan’s Shiite clerics assailed the Taliban rulers after Friday’s attack, demanding greater protection at their places of worship.
The Islamic State affiliate claimed responsibility and identified the bomber as a Uyghur Muslim. The claim said the attack targeted both Shiites and the Taliban for its purported willingness to expel Uyghurs to meet demands from China. It was the deadliest attack since U.S. troops left Afghanistan on Aug. 30.
Michael Kugelman, deputy director of the Asia Program at the U.S.-based Wilson Center, said Friday’s attack could be a harbinger of more violence. Most of the Uyghur militants belong to the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, which has found a haven in the border regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan for decades.
“If the [Islamic State] claim is true, China’s concerns about terrorism in [Afghanistan] — to which the Taliban claims to be receptive — will increase,” he tweeted after the attack.
During the Doha talks, U.S. officials are also seeking to hold the Taliban to its commitment to allow Americans and other foreign nationals to leave, along with Afghans who once worked for the U.S. military or government and other Afghan allies.