Taliban team at Afghan peace talks in Qatar to include women

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Women will be included for the first time in the Taliban delegation to peace talks in Qatar this month, the movement's main spokesman said on Monday, ahead of the latest round of meetings aimed at ending the war in Afghanistan.

For a group known for its strictly conservative attitude to women's rights, the move represents a step toward addressing demands that women be included in the talks, intended to lay the foundations for a future peace settlement.

The April 19-21 meeting in Doha will be the latest in a series of talks between Taliban and U.S. officials and is also expected to include a 150-strong delegation of Afghan politicians and civil society figures.

"There will be women among Taliban delegation members in the Doha, Qatar meeting," said Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban's main spokesman.

Qatari officials (C) take part in a meeting between U.S. special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad (2nd from left), and the U.S. delegation, and Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai (6th from right), and the Taliban delegation, in Doha, February 26, 2019. /VCG Photo

He did not name the women, but added, "These women have no family relationship with the senior members of the Taliban, they are normal Afghans, from inside and outside the country, who have been supporters and part of the struggle of the Islamic Emirate."

In a tweet, he specified that the women would only join discussions with Afghan civil society and political representatives, not in the main negotiations with American officials, led by U.S. special peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad.

Fawzia Koofi, a former member of parliament who took part in a previous round of meetings in Moscow, said the presence of women in the Taliban team was a "good step".

"Only women can feel the pain and miseries that Afghan women have suffered. The presence of women among the Taliban negotiators shows that the Taliban's ideology has changed," said Koofi.

(Top image: Afghan women line up at a polling station during parliamentary elections in Kabul, October 20, 2018. /Reuters Photo)

Source(s): Reuters