Qatari prime minister held talks with Taliban leader on resolving tensions, women's education: Reuters

The Qatari prime minister held talks with the supreme leader of the Taliban earlier this month on resolving tension with the international community, a source briefed on the meeting told Reuters news agency, potentially signalling a new willingness by Afghanistan's rulers to discuss ways to end their isolation.

The 12 May meeting in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar between Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani and Haibatullah Akhunzada is the first the reclusive Taliban chief is known to have held with a foreign leader.

US President Joe Biden's administration was briefed on the talks and is "coordinating on all issues discussed" by the pair, including furthering dialogue with the Taliban, said the source.

The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said other issues Sheikh Mohammed raised with Haibatullah included the need to end a Taliban bans on girls' education and women's employment.

The meeting represents a diplomatic success for Qatar, which has criticized Taliban restrictions on women while using long-standing ties with the Islamist movement to push for deeper engagement with Kabul by the international community.

The United States has led demands for the Taliban to end the bans on girls' schooling and women working, including for U.N. agencies and humanitarian groups, to restore their freedom of movement and bring Afghans from outside Taliban ranks into government.

The source's comments suggested that Washington supported elevating what have been unproductive lower-level talks in the hope of a breakthrough that could end the world's only bans of their kind and ease dire humanitarian and financial crises that have left tens of millions of Afghans hungry and jobless.

The White House declined to comment on the talks. The State Department and the Qatar embassy in Washington did not respond to requests for comment.

The Taliban did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Education, employment bans 

Sheikh Mohammed raised with Haibatullah the need to lift the bans on women's education and employment, including the bar on them working for U.N. agencies and other humanitarian groups, the source said.

The Taliban administration has been promising since January written guidelines allowing aid groups to operate with female staff.

The Taliban in March 2022 barred girls from high schools and extended the ban to universities in December.

They say they will reopen secondary schools to girls when "conditions" have been met, including devising an Islamic syllabus.

Addressing humanitarian crises

Sheikh Mohammed and Haibatullah also discussed efforts to remedy Afghanistan's humanitarian crisis, the source said.

The United Nations says nearly three-quarters of Afghanistan's 40 million people need help and it has warned that funding is drying up.

Sheikh Mohammed, the source said, raised with Haibatullah the "continued efforts on the ground" by the Taliban on counterterrorism, an apparent reference to Kabul's drive to crush an Islamic State affiliate.

The main ideological foe of the Taliban is based mostly in eastern Afghanistan but has targeted minorities and embassies in Kabul.

The U.S. and its allies say the Taliban harbor members of al Qaeda and the Pakistani Taliban. The Afghan Taliban deny that.

Qatar has long pressed the international community to agree a "roadmap" of steps for the Taliban to gain recognition, arguing that isolating Afghanistan could worsen regional security. 

Reporting by Reuters