U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Monday that international envoys in Afghanistan hoped the Taliban would attend future meetings after declining an invitation to talks in Doha.
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Guterres told a news conference that delegates discussed “creating conditions to ensure the presence of Afghanistan's de facto authorities at an upcoming meeting” after refusing to attend the two-day conference in Doha.
Since the return of the Taliban in Afghanistan in 2021, the international community has questioned its approach towards them.
The UN invited Taliban authorities to attend after excluding them at an initial meeting in May.
However, the government in Kabul has said it will not take part in the discussions unless it can be the sole Afghan representative at the meetings, thereby excluding other civil society groups.
A second demand was that the Taliban government delegation meet with the UN Secretary-General and be given the opportunity to present its position.
Mr. Guterres said he received a set of conditions from the Taliban that were “unacceptable” in exchange for their participation.
“These conditions, first of all, deprive us of the right to speak with other representatives of Afghan society,” he said, adding that others were demanding treatment “similar to recognition.”
The Taliban government in Kabul has not been officially recognized by any other government since it came to power and enforced a strict interpretation of Islam, subjecting women to laws described by the United Nations as “apartheid.”
In response, many governments, international organizations and humanitarian organizations have reduced or significantly reduced their funding to Afghanistan, dealing a severe blow to the already struggling economy.
“One of our main objectives is to overcome this impasse,” Mr. Guterres said.