Qatar FM urges Taliban to engage all Afghan parties

• Qatari foreign minister visits Kabul to hold meetings with Afghan leadership.
• He is the first senior most official to visit Afghanistan since the ouster of Ashraf Ghani-government.
• Sheikh Mohammad urges Afghan officials to "engage all Afghan parties" in national reconciliation.

KABUL: Qatar’s Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammad bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani Sunday met senior officials of the new Afghan regime including the interim prime minister and urged them to engage all parties in the country.

Qatar’s FM is the most senior official to visit the country since the Taliban’s takeover of Kabul and subsequently other parts of the country, on August 15.

A Taliban official tweeted that Sheikh Mohammad bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani met senior officials of the new Afghan regime, although details were not disclosed.

The group released pictures of Sheikh Mohammad meeting new Prime Minister Mullah Mohammad Hassan Akhund, while photographs of him with former president Hamid Karzai circulated on social media.

In Doha, the foreign ministry confirmed he held meetings with the new Afghan government as well as with Karzai and Abdullah Abdullah, former chief peace negotiator for the ousted government.

Sheikh Mohammad "urged the Afghan officials to engage all Afghan parties in the national reconciliation", it said.

The talks covered "latest developments regarding the operation of Kabul airport and ensuring freedom of passage and travel for all", it said in a statement.

The ministry said "the two sides stressed the importance of concerted efforts to combat terrorist organisations".

Qatar has long acted as a mediator on Afghanistan, hosting the Taliban’s talks with the United States under former president Donald Trump, and then with the now-deposed Afghan government of Ashraf Ghani.

It is also supporting tens of thousands of Afghans who were evacuated in the final weeks of the US-led occupation as they are processed before heading to other nations.

No country has yet formally recognised the new Taliban government -- and only three did during the first rule of the Taliban from 1996-2001.