KABUL, Afghanistan – The acting Minister of Defense Mawlawi Mohammad Yaqoob Mujahid is on an official visit in Qatar, the Islamic Emirate’s Qatar-based political office said, where he will meet the country’s senior officials to discuss bilateral ties.
Mujahid is the second senior official of the Islamic Emirate who has visited Qatar over the past week.
Acting Minister of Defense Mawlawi Mohammad Yaqoob Mujahid met with the Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and discussed biliteral ties, Islamic Emirate spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid tweeted.
In a two-day formal trip, the Taliban senior official is meeting with Qatari authorities, including the Qatari Minister of Defense, to tackle regional cooperation and bilateral ties.
“Acting Defense Minister Mawlawi Mohammad Yaqoob Mujahid is visiting Qatar for two days and plans to meet with the Emir of Qatar and as well as the Minister of Defense,” said Mohammad Naeem Wardak, a spokesman for the Islamic Emirate’s Qatar-based political office in an earlier tweet, as TOLOnews quoted.
Meanwhile, former Afghan diplomats expressed concern over the outcome of such meetings, which according to them are being held behind the closed doors and the details are not being shared with public.
“These negotiations have a status which unfortunately is not told by the Taliban officials and politicians to the Afghan nation but behind the curtains there is a plan and a vital change of a political aspect of Afghanistan will happen,” said Azizi Maarij, a former diplomat, as local media quoted.
Criticizing a conservative Taliban rule in Afghanistan, political analyst said “the Qatar representative in the UN Human Rights Council was disappointed with the treatment of the regime in Afghanistan,” adding the world leaders now come to work with the so-called Islamic Emirate since they are in power since last August.
“Now the countries who are interested in Afghanistan’s future reached to a point where they want to get familiar with the young figures who are in power, because at the end, it is possible to bring reform through this generation,” said Torek Farhadi, a political analyst.
Earlier, Qatari officials expressed criticism against the Islamic Emirate’s policies regarding girls’ schools beyond grade six that remained closed for the past eight months. Even the latest national grand assembly failed to address the issue.
