Taliban want help, but no strings attached

The first talks between the Taliban and the Americans, held on Saturday 9 and Sunday 10 October, in Doha, Qatar, since the United States’ final departure from Afghanistan on August 30, leave the feeling that nothing has changed since the fall of Kabul. As they had done during the negotiations with Washington for the withdrawal agreement, also signed in Doha, on February 29, 2020, the ex-insurgents were more confident than ever. They continue to dictate the agenda and timing of any debate, even as their country experiences one of the worst economic and humanitarian crises in its history. Faced with them, the American delegation tried to condition emergency aid to a relaxation of the Taliban regime, but could only note its failure.

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The final statement from the US State Department, calling the exchanges “Frank and professional”, says all of the coldness of the face-to-face. And the injunction stating that “The Islamist movement will be judged by its actions and not by its words” should not blink the new masters of Afghanistan. On the verge of arrogance, they like to emphasize to their interlocutors that their confidence is not unjustified. Did they not defeat, they say, the first army in the world and force the first world power to sign, in February 2020, a Doha agreement which already confirmed their victory? Why, then, question a method that made them successful?

Emergency humanitarian support

On the merits, the spokesman for the American diplomacy, Ned Price, affirmed that these talks had carried “On the problems of terrorism and on the security during the journey of American citizens, other foreign nationals and Afghan partners”. He added that his country had expressed high expectations on the issue of human rights, girls’ education and the conditions for sending emergency humanitarian support. The Taliban indicated that the United States had agreed to send this aid, which was denied by Washington for whom this subject was only “Discussed” and according to whom this support, if it were to intervene, would not go to the Taliban government, but to the Afghan people.

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On Monday, from Kabul, the Taliban foreign minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi, wielding euphemism and the Coué method, thanked the United States “For their support” and pledged that his government would cooperate with groups responsible for delivering humanitarian aid. He nevertheless insisted that such assistance “Should not be linked to political issues”, emphasizing the refusal of any conditioning. According to him, “Efforts must be made to re-establish good diplomatic relations”.

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