The annual security conference in Munich, Germany, ended yesterday. The meeting comes at a time when the West and Russia are at loggerheads over Ukraine and Russia is likely to invade Ukraine.
Afghanistan, which would never have been the focus of this security conference this year, did not receive much attention this year, but yesterday at a roundtable discussion entitled “Afghanistan’s shocks and from euro to euro” Was discussed.
The roundtable was attended by Tom West, the US special envoy for Afghanistan, via video link and he said diplomacy with the Taliban is in everyone’s interest.
Mr West added: “Our view is that we should all pursue diplomacy with the Taliban for our own benefit, which is our choice now. Now, six months after the Taliban seized power, we need to see how effective diplomacy has been, I think, in some areas good and not good in some.”
Mr West added that diplomacy in education had created cautious optimism but had not yet resulted in a coalition government and that there is not a single woman in the Taliban’s leadership.
He added that most of the seats in the Taliban government are held by one ethnic group and that there is a need for professionals in the government.
Tom West, the US special envoy for Afghanistan, also said that the transition from a caretaker government to a permanent government needed to be discussed among Afghans, but that this had not yet happened.
This is despite the fact that over the past six months, the Taliban have tried to persuade the international community to recognize the government. During the same period, Taliban officials made several foreign trips, one to the Norwegian capital Oslo in January.
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