UN chief to host special envoys on Afghanistan in Qatar

ISTANBUL (AA) – The UN chief will be hosting a special meeting on Afghanistan next month, his office has announced.

Stephane Dujarric, a spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, said the two-day closed-door meeting will be held in the Qatari capital Doha on May 1 and 2.

“The purpose of this kind of small group meeting is for us to reinvigorate the international engagement around the common objectives for a durable way forward on the situation in Afghanistan,” Dujarric said in a news briefing.

A transcript of the news conference read that the UN chief will host special envoys on Afghanistan from various countries.

It will be the first such meeting hosted by the UN chief on Afghanistan.

Guterres “has said and continues to believe,” Dujarric told reporters at the UN headquarters in New York, “that it’s an urgent priority to advance an approach based on pragmatism and principles, combined with strategic patience, and to identify parameters for creative, flexible, principled, and constructive engagement.”

“It is his aim that the discussions, which will be held behind closed doors, can contribute to a more unified consensus regarding the challenges ahead,” said Dujarric.

‘Recognition of Taliban administration’

The UN chief’s spokesman also responded to questions on comments made by Guterres’ deputy Amina Mohammed wherein she had reportedly said the UN was planning a conference to debate granting recognition to the Taliban, the de facto authorities in Afghanistan.

The “topic of recognition … is clearly in the hands of the (UN) member states,” Dujarric emphasized.

Taliban returned to power in Kabul in 2021 after two decades of fighting with the US and allied forces.

“And it’s a fact, it’s according to the (UN) Charter, and there’s no question on that,” he added.