Taliban in Qatar

Senior leaders of the Afghan Taliban have been stationed in Doha, Qatar, since the early 2010s. The original purpose for being there was to open an office that would facilitate political reconciliation between the Taliban, the government of Afghanistan, the United States and other countries. After the Taliban office building opened in 2013, peace negotiations were suspended following objections by the Afghan government that the office was being presented as the embassy of a government in exile.^[1] Taliban leaders remained in Doha with accommodation from the Qatari government,^[2] on the condition that the office cannot be used for public dealings.^[3][4][5]

Following the collapse of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan on 17 August 2021, leader of the Taliban-affiliated Hezb-e-Islami party Gulbuddin Hekmatyar met with both Hamid Karzai, former President of Afghanistan, and Abdullah Abdullah, Chairman of the High Council for National Reconciliation and former Chief Executive, in Doha seeking to form a government.^[6][7] President Ashraf Ghani, having fled the country to either Tajikistan or Uzbekistan, emerged in the UAE and said that he supported such negotiations and was in talks to return to Afghanistan.^[8][9] Abdul Ghani Baradar, head of the office, and many of the other office staff returned to Afghanistan to discuss formation of a new government.^[10] Suhail Shaheen, one of the spokesmen, remained in Qatar with a few others.^{[citation needed]}