The Taliban announced on Sunday following talks in Qatar that the United States would not be formally recognizing the Taliban but would be providing humanitarian aid to Afghanistan.
The statement came at the end of the first direct talks between the former foes since the chaotic withdrawal of U.S. troops at the end of August.
According to the statement, the U.S. agreed to provide humanitarian aid to Afghanistan, while the Taliban said they would “facilitate principled movement of foreign nationals.”
The united state department said “The two sides also discussed the United States’ provision of robust humanitarian assistance, directly to the Afghan people.”.
“The U.S. delegation focused on security and terrorism concerns and safe passage for U.S. citizens, other foreign nationals and our Afghan partners, as well as on human rights, including the meaningful participation of women and girls in all aspects of Afghan society,” it added.
Taliban political spokesman Suhail Shaheen also told The Associated Press that the movement’s interim foreign minister assured the U.S. during the talks that the Taliban are committed to seeing that Afghan soil is not used by extremists to launch attacks against other countries.
A State Department spokesperson told the The Hill on Saturday that “this meeting is not about granting recognition or conferring legitimacy.”
“We remain clear that any legitimacy must be earned through the Taliban’s own actions,” the spokesperson added.
ISIS-K, which considers the Taliban an enemy, was involved in a separate bombing outside Kabul’s main mosque that killed at least two people one week ago. ISIS-K also claimed responsibility for a deadly suicide bombing in late August that killed 13 U.S. service members and dozens more Afghans.
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