US-Taliban talks focus on economy, human rights, anti-drug trafficking

U.S. officials
told Afghanistan’s Taliban that Washington was open to technical
talks on economic stability and discussions on combating
narcotics trafficking, the U.S. State Department said on Monday
following two days of talks in Qatar.
Taliban officials raised the lifting of travel and other
restrictions on Taliban leaders and the return of Afghan central
bank assets held abroad, the Kabul administration said.
No country has formally recognized the Taliban since the
Islamist militant movement returned to power in Afghanistan in
2021 when U.S.-led foreign forces withdrew in chaos after a
20-year conflict.
The U.S. side repeated concerns about “deteriorating”
human rights and called anew on the Taliban to reverse bans on
girls’ secondary education and womens’ employment and for the
release of detained Americans, the State Department said in a
statement.