- Amazon drought leaves Colombian border town high and dry
- Some Cubans depend on sugar water as food shortages bite
- Saudi crown prince says no Israel ties without Palestinian state
- Canada to further cut international student, foreign worker permits
- YouTube launches new TV-focused tools for creators
- White Sox heading for worst season in MLB history
- China the top challenge in US history: senior diplomat
- Hong Kong democracy tycoon's son warns time running out
- New migraine drugs no better than cheap painkillers: big study
- Sean 'Diddy' Combs again denied bail in sex trafficking case
- Brewers clinch division title as MLB playoff race heats up
- Man City blunted by 'giant' Inter in Champions League stalemate
- US stocks dip despite larger Fed interest rate cut
- Man City held by Inter as PSG pinch win in Champions League
- All Blacks recall Beauden Barrett for Australia Test
- Fears of all-out war as new Lebanon device blasts kill 20, wound 450
- Spurs late show saves Postecoglou blushes at Coventry
- PSG snatch late goal to beat Champions League debutants Girona
- Gittens' late double gives Dortmund Champions League win at Brugge
- Man City blunted by Inter in Champions League stalemate
- Hidden talent: French Olympic star Marchand opts for disguise
- MrBeast named in California lawsuit over 'Beast Games' show
- Gauff splits with Gilbert as coach after 14-month run
- Hundreds of thousands at risk in Sudan's El-Fasher: UN
- Harvey Weinstein pleads not guilty to new sex crime charge
- Venezuelan opposition candidate says letter conceding election was coerced
- Ukraine official claims Russian advance in Kursk has been 'stopped'
- X update allows app to bypass Brazil ban: internet providers
- Fears of all-out war as new Lebanon device blasts kill 14, wound 450
- US Fed makes aggressive rate cut, weeks before election
- Arsenal's Odegaard faces lengthy injury absence
- India coal expansion risks massive methane growth: report
- China the top challenge in US history, top diplomat says
- US Fed makes larger half-point cut in first reduction since 2020
- Ronaldo's Al Nassr appoint former AC Milan boss Pioli
- Ainslie 'relieved' as British book place in Louis Vuitton Cup final
- Struggling Roma replace sacked icon De Rossi with Ivan Juric
- Women's NBA will add 15th team in Portland in 2026
- Brazil fires need harsher punishment: environmental police boss
- Boeing to start large temporary furloughs amid Seattle strike
- Fears of all-out war as new Lebanon device blasts kill nine, wound 300
- 'Emergency' declared over falling UK butterfly numbers
- McIlroy outlines threats to golf peace deal
- Stock markets, dollar slip before US rate decision
- Russian advance in Kursk 'stopped': Ukraine official to AFP
- UN members demand end to 'unlawful' Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories
- Snapchat pushes 'safer' platform image, but not everyone agrees
- Three dead, 100 wounded in new wave of Lebanon device explosions
- So where does the oceans' plastic waste come from?
- Allied war heroes buried in Netherlands... 80 years on
RBGPF | 5.79% | 60.5 | $ | |
CMSC | 0.02% | 25.055 | $ | |
RYCEF | 1.37% | 6.55 | $ | |
RELX | -0.82% | 47.37 | $ | |
GSK | -0.31% | 42.43 | $ | |
NGG | -0.46% | 70.05 | $ | |
SCS | 0.71% | 14.11 | $ | |
BCC | 1.33% | 137.06 | $ | |
RIO | -0.02% | 62.91 | $ | |
JRI | 0.45% | 13.44 | $ | |
AZN | 0.06% | 78.58 | $ | |
BTI | -0.34% | 37.88 | $ | |
VOD | 0.49% | 10.23 | $ | |
BCE | 3.09% | 35.61 | $ | |
CMSD | -0.12% | 24.98 | $ | |
BP | -0.37% | 32.43 | $ |
Taliban in Geneva for diplomatic, humanitarian talks
A Taliban delegation was in Geneva on Tuesday for a week of NGO-hosted talks on humanitarian access and human rights, as crisis-besieged Afghanistan's new rulers expand their international engagement.
The delegation will also meet with Swiss and other European officials, plus the Red Cross -- though Switzerland's foreign ministry insisted that their presence on Swiss soil did not constitute recognition of the regime.
The hardline Islamist movement seized control in mid-August as the United States ended its 20-year war in Afghanistan.
Since then, Afghanistan has plunged into financial chaos, with inflation and unemployment surging, while the halting of aid has triggered a humanitarian crisis in a country already devastated by decades of war.
The Geneva Call foundation, which works to protect civilians during conflict, said it was hosting a conference on Afghanistan behind closed doors from Monday to Friday, aimed at enhancing unimpeded the delivery of humanitarian assistance in the country.
"The country is facing a complex emergency due to past overlapping armed conflicts, Covid-19 and its socio-economic consequences, and extreme weather," the non-governmental organisation said in a statement.
"Today, 23 million Afghan people are at risk of malnutrition and 97 percent of the population lives under the poverty level."
Geneva Call said it had therefore invited the Taliban to a conference "to discuss the status of humanitarian assistance, the protection of civilians, respect of healthcare and the issue of landmines and explosive remnants of war".
- Taliban seeking greater recognition -
The Taliban feel they are inching closer towards international recognition, the regime's foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi told AFP last week, in his first interview since returning from talks with Western powers in Oslo.
No country has formally recognised the government installed after the Taliban seized power.
But Muttaqi said they were slowly gaining international acceptance.
"We have come closer to that goal," he said, as he urged Washington to unlock Afghanistan's frozen assets to help ease the humanitarian crisis.
Switzerland's ATS news agency reported that the Geneva delegation was being led by Latifullah Hakimi and numbers around 10 people.
Hakimi is a senior official at the Taliban defence ministry. He heads a commission formed by the Taliban government to identify members who were flouting the hardline movement's regulations.
Representatives from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, and from the foreign ministry's Peace and Human Rights Division and its Asia and Pacific Division, are also due to meet the delegation this week.
However, a foreign ministry spokeswoman stressed that their presence "does not represent a legitimisation or recognition of the Taliban".
They will discuss humanitarian access, the protection of aid workers and respect for human rights, and the protection of children, she told AFP.
- Red Cross meet -
The International Committee of the Red Cross said it would hold talks with the delegation from the so-called Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA).
"The ICRC has a long-standing relationship with the IEA. This dialogue is essential in order to fulfil our strictly neutral and impartial humanitarian mission," a spokesman said.
"We will continue this dialogue with the high-level IEA delegation in Geneva this week and look forward to constructive discussions."
Geneva Call said its conference was aimed at improving compliance with humanitarian norms in Afghanistan and the safe passage of aid.
The NGO said its home city was chosen to host the talks as it had a long tradition of negotiations and respect for international humanitarian law.
The United Nations last month said it needed $5 billion (4.4 billion euros) in aid for Afghanistan in 2022 to avert a humanitarian catastrophe and offer the ravaged country a future after 40 years of suffering.
rjm-burs/gw
D.Schneider--BTB