Taliban’s supreme leader holds secret talks with Qatar PM in Afghanistan

The Taliban’s supreme leader has held secret talks with the Qatari prime minister aimed at ending Kabul’s international isolation.

Haibatullah Akhundzada, a former cleric in the Islamist movement who rose to power after endorsing the use of suicide bombs, is not known to have previously held talks with a foreign leader.

But on May 12, he met with Qatar’s Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, in the Afghan city of Kandahar, to discuss ending the Taliban’s ban on girls’ education and female employment.

Girls have been barred from attending secondary school since March 2022, while primary school and university students were banned that December.

The meeting represents a diplomatic success for Qatar, which has criticised Taliban restrictions on women while using long-standing ties with the hardliners to push for deeper engagement with Kabul by the international community.

In the US, Joe Biden’s administration was briefed on the talks and was “co-ordinating on all issues discussed” by the pair, including furthering dialogue with the Taliban, a source who was briefed on the conversation told Reuters.

Washington has led demands for the Taliban to lift the bans on Afghan women and girls, restore their freedom of movement and bring Afghans from outside Taliban ranks into government.

The source’s comments suggested that the US supported elevating what have been unproductive lower-level talks, in the hope of a breakthrough that could end the bans and ease dire humanitarian and financial crises facing Afghans.

Key Taliban leaders have criticised Mr Akhundzada, in veiled terms, over the exclusion of women from society.

In addition, Ali Jalali, a former Afghan interior minister, said that he does not believe the Taliban chief will engage in serious dialogue with the US and other powers until he eliminates factional rivalries and differences over the girls’ education ban.

However, the source briefed on the talks said that Mr Akhundzada’s meeting with Mr Thani suggested he was open to exploring avenues for ending Afghanistan’s isolation and boosting relief programmes as the country sinks into hunger and poverty.

“It was a very positive meeting,” said the source, adding that Mr Akhundzada was “very interested” in continuing a dialogue with the international community.

Qatar has long pressed other nations to agree a “road map” of steps for the Taliban to gain recognition, arguing that isolating Afghanistan could worsen regional security.