Taliban and Washington discuss ties

US urged to lift ban on Afghan central bank and not to interfere with its affairs

DOHA－The Afghan Taliban said a high-level delegation of its government had met a US delegation in the Qatari capital, Doha, the first such meeting since the United States withdrew from Afghanistan in late August and the first foreign visit by the Taliban government officials.

The two sides discussed opening a new chapter of bilateral relations, and the Taliban officials called on the US to lift the ban on frozen assets in the Afghan Central Bank, Amir Khan Muttaqi, acting foreign minister of the newly formed administration, said on Saturday.

The Taliban delegation also urged the US to respect the sovereignty of Afghanistan's airspace and not to interfere in its affairs, he said, stressing the focus was on humanitarian aid and implementing all provisions of the Doha Agreement concluded between the two sides in February last year.

"We clearly told them that trying to destabilize the government in Afghanistan is good for no one," Muttaqi told the Afghan state news agency Bakhtar after the talks.

"Good relations with Afghanistan are good for everyone," he said in a recorded statement translated by Agence France-Presse. "Nothing should be done to weaken the existing government in Afghanistan which can lead to problems for the people."

In the coming days the delegation will meet representatives of the European Union to discuss the latest developments, Muttaqi said.

The Twitter account of a Taliban spokesman said that on Friday a high-level delegation led by Muttaqi headed to Doha to meet Qatari officials and representatives of other countries on the current political situation and the country's external relations.

Qatar plays a major role in the Afghan issue, having facilitated the evacuation and transfer of tens of thousands of people from Kabul, helping reopen Kabul Airport to receive aid and flights, and providing financial aid to Afghanistan estimated at $50 million, according to official statements.

Since 2013 the Taliban have maintained a political office in Doha, and over the years it has been the venue of negotiations between the Taliban and the US and is where the peace agreement between the two sides was signed in February last year that provided for the withdrawal of foreign forces from Afghanistan.

Deadly attack

The meeting came a day after a deadly suicide attack on a Shiite mosque in the Afghan province of Kunduz in which at least 46 were killed and many wounded.

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the bombing.

Matiullah Rohani, director of culture and information in Kunduz for Afghanistan's new Taliban government, told AFP that the incident was a suicide attack and that at least 46 people had died and 143 were injured. Two health officials told Reuters as many as 80 people may have died.

"A crime has been committed in the Khan Abad area of Kunduz city," the Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told Chinese news television CGTN on Friday.

"An explosion took place in a mosque of Shiite compatriots during Friday prayers," Mujahid said. "A number of people were killed and injured."

The Taliban strongly condemned the attack, he said, which met with broad international condemnation, the United Nations Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, calling for the perpetrators to be brought to justice.

Friday's attack was the deadliest in the country since the US and NATO troops left Afghanistan and the Taliban took control of the country.

An explosion outside a mosque in Kabul killed eight people on Oct 3. Twenty others were injured in the explosion, for which the ISIS claimed responsibility.

Xinhua - Agencies