Top Biden administration officials met in-person with the Taliban onSaturday for the first time since Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri waskilled by the US in his apartment in Kabul in late July, two officialsfamiliar with the talks said, reported CNN on Sunday.
The US administration sent the CIA’s deputy director and the top StateDepartment official responsible for Afghanistan to the Qatari capital ofDoha for the talks with the Taliban delegation which included their head ofintelligence, Abdul Haq Wasiq.
After Zawahiri was killed in a strike, the US accused the Taliban of a“clear and blatant violation of the Doha agreement,” brokered by the Trumpadministration, which said that the Taliban would not harbor terrorists ifUS forces withdrew from Afghanistan, which they did in August 2021.
After a US drone fired fatal Hellfire missiles at Zawahiri, Americanofficials accused Taliban leaders from the Haqqani network of knowing aboutZawahiri’s whereabouts while the Taliban angrily condemned the operation.
Since then, the US has continued to engage with the Taliban, includingnegotiating the release of US citizen Mark Frerichs. But senior officialshad not met face-to-face since a few days before Zawahiri was killed onJuly 31.
The presence of CIA Deputy Director David Cohen and the Taliban’s Wasiq atthe meeting on Saturday indicates an emphasis on counterterrorism. TheWhite House last month called cooperation with the Taliban oncounterterrorism “a work in progress.”
Cohen was accompanied by the State Department’s Special Representative forAfghanistan, Tom West, who has often led engagement with the Taliban sincethe US withdrawal last year.
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Frerichs was released almost three weeks ago after more than two years incaptivity, with help from Qatar. Administration officials said they saidspent months negotiating with the Taliban for his release and had warnedthe Taliban after the strike about harming Frerichs. The best way torebuild trust, they said they told the Taliban, would be to release him.
At least one other American, a filmmaker named Ivor Shearer, is currentlybeing held by the Taliban after being arrested with his Afghan producer,Faizullah Faizbakhsh, filming in the area where Zawahiri was killed,according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. Shearer had reportedlybeen summoned several times by the Taliban for questioning before hisdetention.
The CIA and State Department declined to comment.
While the Taliban maintains ties with Al-Qaeda, they are facing aninsurgency from the Islamic State offshoot known as ISIS-K. The group hasroutinely targeted the Hazara ethnic minority in Afghanistan. At least 25people, primarily young women, were killed in a suicide attack last week atan education centre in a predominantly Hazara neighbourhood in Kabul. Noone immediately claimed responsibility.
“The Taliban are struggling to prevent ISIS-K attacks, making them lookfeckless, particularly in Kabul,” says Beth Sanner.
