US to Meet Taliban Officials in Doha This Weekend, Will Not Legitimize Group - Reports

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - A US delegation will travel to Doha, Qatar, over the weekend to meet with senior Taliban* officials to discuss issues in Afghanistan, Reuters reported on Friday citing two Biden administration officials.
Sputnik
The US delegation will be made up of officials from the State Department and the US intelligence community, the report said.
The topics of discussion at the meeting will be ensuring the safe passage of Americans and others out of Afghanistan, the release of US citizen Mark Frerichs, and warning about the potential resurgence of extremist groups, the report said.
US Special Representative for Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad will not be included in the meeting, the report said.
In mid-August, the Taliban entered Kabul, and announced the next day that the war in the country was over. The last province to resist the group, Panjshir, surrendered on September 6. As international troops withdrew from the country and foreign evacuations came to a close, the Taliban announced the composition of their interim cabinet, headed by Mohammad Hasan Akhund, a former foreign minister during the previous Taliban rule, who has been under UN sanctions since 2001.
*A terrorist organization banned in Russia
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