Day: July 30, 2023
Biden administration officials to meet Taliban representatives in Qatar to talk ‘humanitarian support’
BY CHRISTINE DOUGLASS-WILLIAMS
Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, & research purposes.
Biden administration meetings with the Taliban don’t “mean any kind of indication of recognition or any kind of indication of normalization or legitimacy of the Taliban,” insisted State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel.
Yet the meeting will inevitably suggest such legitimacy, and whatever the Americans give, they will get nothing in return. How much respect will the Taliban really have for Biden’s female representative, Special Envoy for Afghan Women, Girls, and Human Rights Rina Amiri?
Given the Biden administration’s reputation as a group of failed negotiators and global jesters, chances are that the Taliban’s only interest is in attempting to boost its international standing, with the ongoing goal of squeezing more money out of the Biden administration on “humanitarian” grounds. This money will be used to further strengthen the abusive regime.
Let’s not forget the billions of dollars worth of state-of-the-art military equipment that the Biden administration left behind. Also, the administration’s most recent attempts to renew the Iran deal are a good indicator of the Biden administration's mindset, which so often seems to involve enriching America’s enemies.
“US officials to meet Taliban representatives in Qatar this week,” Al Arabiya, July 26, 2023:
US officials will meet Taliban representatives and “technocratic professionals” from key Afghan ministries during a visit to Doha this week, the State Department said on Wednesday, adding they will discuss security, narcotics and women’s rights.
Special Representative for Afghanistan Thomas West and Special Envoy for Afghan Women, Girls, and Human Rights Rina Amiri will travel to Astana, Kazakhstan, and Doha, Qatar, from July 26 to July 31 and meet the Taliban delegation, the State Department said in a statement.
The officials will discuss critical interests in Afghanistan such as “humanitarian support for the people of Afghanistan, economic stabilization, fair and dignified treatment of all Afghans, including women and girls, security issues, and efforts to counter narcotics production and trafficking,” the statement added.
West and Amiri will also meet with civil society members working on issues of women’s economic empowerment in Afghanistan and Kazakhstan.
The meetings do not “mean any kind of indication of recognition or any kind of indication of normalization or legitimacy of the Taliban,” said State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel when asked about the visit, reiterating US concerns about human rights abuses and the marginalization of women and girls in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan….