Taliban sends its first delegation to a UN-led meeting in Qatar on Afghanistan

Zabihullah Mujahid, center right, the chief spokesperson for the Taliban government who leads the Taliban delegation, speaks with Uzbekistan presidential envoy to Afghanistan Ismatullah Irgashev, during a meeting in Doha, Qatar, in this photo released by the Taliban Spokesman Office, June 30, 2024. © AP

The Taliban government, which has imposed severe restrictions on women since seizing power in 2021 that the UN has described as a system of "gender apartheid", will send its first delegation to the third round of talks on the Afghan crisis starting in Qatar on Sunday. 

A Taliban delegation on Sunday attended a United Nations-led meeting in Qatar on Afghanistan after organizers said women would be excluded from the gathering.