In June 2013, the Taliban’s political office was officially opened in Qatar. This office not only provided economic opportunities for the Taliban but also smoothed the group’s path to power, creating many obstacles to Afghanistan’s development along the way. The opening of this office was inappropriate from the outset for a terrorist group, yet many doors were opened for it. Taliban leaders, previously active in various regions of Pakistan, found their way to Doha, seizing diplomatic opportunities and expanding their relations with some countries. Qatar’s hosting of the Taliban proved effective in strengthening the group and posed a threat to the survival of the Afghanistan government. When the government became more vulnerable and faced collapse, talks between the United States and the Taliban began in Doha, Qatar, ultimately resulting in the signing of the Doha Agreement on February 29, 2020. This agreement redirected the Taliban’s guns from foreign forces toward the Afghan people and security forces, compelling the government to release thousands of Taliban prisoners. Subsequently, Qatar hosted peace talks between Afghans (Taliban and the Afghan government), which opened in September 2020 amidst much controversy. These talks, plagued by Taliban aggressions and government unpreparedness, failed to address the power issue in Afghanistan and ended practically fruitless. Although the republic continued until its end, Afghanistan did not take the initiative, which fell into the hands of the Taliban and external actors. With the end of the republican era and the escape of President Ghani, Qatar’s first round of games came to an end.
However, the second round of this game started very quickly, as the Afghan government collapsed, and the process of the withdrawal of foreign forces and their local collaborators from Kabul airport was initiated. Doha assisted US forces and their local allies during the withdrawal process and remained active in Afghan politics practically. After that, it continued to host Taliban officials. Doha remains one of the most important diplomatic centers for the Taliban. Qatar, striving to position itself as a significant mediator in international conflicts while being an important ally of the United States in the region, has maintained close relations with the Taliban. Essentially, Doha’s strategy for mediation involves establishing communication with both sides of the conflict, even if one of those sides is a terrorist group. The country has close relations with Islamist groups and the powerful Al Jazeera network provides opportunities for promoting the ideas of these groups. In the past year, Qatar has hosted negotiations on the release of blocked Iranian funds and American hostages from Iranian prisons, negotiations on the release of Israeli hostages from Hamas, and UN meetings on resolving the issue of Afghanistan. Now, the third Doha meeting, initiated by the United Nations, is scheduled to be held on the first and second of July (next month), and the United Nations has dispatched a high-level delegation to Kabul to persuade Taliban officials to participate in this meeting.
In the second phase of Qatar’s engagements in Afghanistan, the relations between Kandahar and Doha have remained close. Mullah Hibatullah, who keeps himself hidden from the authorities of countries, the people of Afghanistan, and even his fighters, and due to his secrecy, does not accept anyone for meetings, met with Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani, the Prime Minister of Qatar, in the same month of last year. He also had a similar meeting with Maulana Fazlur Rehman, the leader of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam party (Pakistan), who is famous as the godfather of the Taliban. He does not accept anyone else. Even when representatives of the Afghan Shia community went to Kandahar to resolve the community’s issues and waited, they were not received and returned empty-handed. The visit of the Qatari Prime Minister to Kabul and then Kandahar demonstrates the close relationship between the Taliban and the rulers of Qatar, and the fact that Mullah Hibatullah cannot reject his meeting request means that Qatar has a significant influence on the Taliban.
Now, Mohammed bin Abdulaziz Al-Khulaifi, the Deputy Foreign Minister of Qatar, has traveled to Afghanistan and separately met with Taliban officials. His mission is to persuade the Taliban to participate in the third Doha meeting. To succeed in his mission, he once again offers concessions to the Taliban and argues that their positions are correct and logical. According to a statement released by the Taliban’s Foreign Ministry, Al-Khulaifi has acknowledged the conditions set by the Taliban for participating in the third Doha meeting during his meeting with Amir Khan Muttaqi, the acting Foreign Minister of the Taliban.
In the Doha meetings organized by the United Nations, it seems that Qatar has significant influence. It is not unlikely that Qatar has even influenced the selection of participants. Although the Taliban have close relations with the Qatari authorities, they were invited to the second Doha meeting but did not attend due to conditions set by the group and the UN’s refusal to accept them. However, serious efforts are now underway by the United Nations to persuade the Taliban to attend the third Doha meeting by sending a Deputy Secretary-General to meet with Taliban officials. However, despite calls from anti-Taliban political movements for the United Nations to give them a chance to participate, this opportunity has not been granted. These movements lack the strong ties that the Taliban have with Qatar. There is a possibility that this issue has influenced the selection of participants.
Given that the Taliban are one side of the power issue in Afghanistan, the exclusion of their opponents from the Doha meeting as other parties to the conflict can only provide international legitimacy for the Taliban group and have no impact on the power struggle in Afghanistan. Without a doubt, when one party to a conflict is invited and others are not, it signifies a lack of intention to resolve the conflict. Therefore, Qatar’s heavy shadow over the country remains stable, and the conflict continues. Strangely, the more the Taliban violate human rights and impose restrictions on men and women in the country, the more the United Nations, as the guardian of human rights, falls short in fulfilling its responsibilities and even resorts to appeasing the Taliban. Inviting the Taliban to the Doha meeting and not inviting their opponents, who at least claim to believe in freedom, democracy, and human rights (even if only in rhetoric), amounts to appeasement of the Taliban.
You can read the Persian version of this analysis here:
