The latest: In a joint statement, the participants of the second Vienna summit called on Doha to refrain from any discussion that would lead to continued Taliban dominance and further complicating the situation in Afghanistan. They also called for greater integration of political, social, cultural, civil and independent figures under one umbrella.
Go deeper:
- The joint statement issued on Wednesday said that they see negotiations and a peaceful political solution as the best option for the country, but they also support all forms of resistance against the Taliban.
- It emphasised that they will try to strengthen and expand such anti-Taliban resistance. Political and civil figures opposed to the Taliban also called on the international community to recognize all forms of resistance of the Afghan people to the Taliban.
- They praised the “legitimate” resistance of political movements and the women’s and girls’ justice movements in Afghanistan, and stressed on the unity of all anti-Taliban movements.
- The declaration stated that the systematic elimination of women from society is an example of gender apartheid, and stated that the UN blackout in this regard is “irresponsible”.
- Participants in the meeting described the remarks made by U.N. Under-Secretary-General Amina Mohammad regarding the Taliban’s recognition also as irresponsible and described the explanations as inadequate.
- “With the Taliban’s dominance, many regional and international terrorist groups have migrated to Afghanistan and their operational capability has increased,” it said.
- Hence, participants of the second Vienna meeting said that the danger of spreading terrorism in the region has become a serious threat and what the Taliban calls the fight against terrorist groups “is an illusion”.
- The declaration condemned restrictions on education for Afghan girls and rejected changes to the curriculum “to achieve extremist targets by the Taliban”.
- The participants of the second round of the Vienna summit said that the Taliban have not complied with the legitimate demands of the Afghan people enshrined in the first round of the Vienna summit and have put Afghanistan in the worst humanitarian situation.
- Participants welcomed regional and global consensus to not recognize the Taliban until the creation of a government based on the will of the people, and called on the ICC to identify and prosecute those Taliban leaders and commanders who have committed “crimes against humanity, war crimes and systematic human rights violations”.
- However, the Taliban’s spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said that such meetings are not in the interests of Afghanistan and that people who attend such events abroad have lost their “prestige” inside the country. Mujahid said political figures should not seek to destroy the current system. He added that participants of the Vienna meeting do not have public support inside Afghanistan.
Back story: The second round of meeting of 30 political and civil figures opposed to the Taliban began on Monday in Vienna. The meeting was attended by Ahmad Massoud, Rangin Dadfar Spanta, Fawzia Kofi, Fazl Ahmad Manavi, and a number of others.
- The main goal of the meeting has been to focus on strengthening confidence building among anti-Taliban currents and figures, “continuing and expanding the resistance for the liberation of Afghanistan, increasing pressure on the Taliban and its supporters, and planning to get out of the current crisis”.
- A number of participants on the sidelines of the meeting said that “women attending the meeting are seeking to support domestic forces, especially women activists and civil society, and to call on the international community to help them.”
- Some figures who attended the first round of the conference last year have not attended this year, including former national security chief Rahmatullah Nabil.
- The first meeting of these forces was held in 2022 in Vienna.
Meanwhile, in another development, Khalilzad called on the UN Secretary-General to draw up a roadmap for international engagement with Afghanistan at the Doha summit.
- Khalilzad tweeted that he would also meet with the Taliban at a meeting in Qatar next week to determine the group’s commitment to full implementation of the Doha agreement. Khalilzad stressed that the best option is to implement the Doha agreement.
Zoom out: Ahmad Massoud, the leader of the National Resistance Front, was quoted as saying that “it is necessary to prepare an inclusive plan to confront the Taliban”.
- The NRF leader has said that consensus among different opposition groups is needed to combat international extremism and terrorism.
- “We believe that without a complete consensus, we cannot achieve the lofty goals of freedom and saving Afghanistan from international extremism and terrorism,” the statement said.
- Massoud also said that there is no difference between the Taliban and ISIS as the two groups share the same thinking, tactics and identity.
- According to Massoud, the Taliban, despite its extremism, has been trying to portray themselves differently to the international community.
- The NRF leader said that before the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan, they had warned the international community about the possibility of the collapse of the state, but no one heard them.
- However, Massoud expressed confidence in the victory of the NRF against the Taliban and stressed that the goal of the Vienna meeting was to expand the resistance for the freedom of Afghanistan from the Taliban.
