Lagatar24 Desk
London, Feb 11: The UK officials met with top Taliban leadership on Friday to discuss the catastrophic humanitarian situation in Afghanistan, according to the British Foreign Office.
British representatives returned to Afghanistan on Thursday, according to a UK government spokesperson, for talks on how to respond to the country’s increasing humanitarian catastrophe.
Nick Dyer, the UK’s Special Envoy for Famine Prevention and Humanitarian Affairs, Hugo Shorter, the UK Mission to Afghanistan’s Charge d’Affaires ad Interim, and Hester Waddams, the UK Mission to Afghanistan’s Deputy Head of Mission and Political Counsellor, met with senior Taliban officials, including Mawlawi Amir Khan Muttaqi and Abdul Haq Wasiq.
“As well as discussing the dire humanitarian situation, officials made clear to the Taliban the UK’s serious concerns about human rights, including those of women, girls and minorities, and the treatment of women’s rights activists,” said the UK spokesperson.
Separately, Hugo Shorter claimed both parties discussed the humanitarian crisis, terrorism, and the UK’s severe concerns about the country’s human rights situation, notably women, girls, and minorities, in a Twitter post.
“We underlined that the negative trend, including the lengthy detention of female activists, reprisals and extra-judicial killings is deeply concerning. We stressed that all girls should return to school in the spring,” he added.
Last year’s conflict drove more than 700,000 Afghans to flee their homes, adding to the 5.5 million people who had already been displaced in previous years, according to the UN migration agency.
