US set to meet Taliban soon in first face-to-face meeting

The US troops were given till August 31 by Taliban to completely pack up their belongings and leave Afghanistan. Since then, there has been no official known face-to-face communication between the two countries.

However, the US is now planning to hold its first in-person talk with Taliban from Saturday, the State Department said.

Although the US has stayed in regular contact with Taliban since the terrorist organisation took control of Afghanistan, this will be the first face-to-face meeting between the two groups.

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The US delegation is hoping that they will be able to press Taliban to work on providing proper human rights and freedom to women and minority groups in the South Asian country.

"We will press the Taliban to respect the rights of all Afghans, including women and girls, and to form an inclusive government with broad support," the spokesperson said Friday. "As Afghanistan faces the prospect of a severe economic contraction and possible humanitarian crisis, we will also press the Taliban to allow humanitarian agencies free access to areas of need," he said.

However, the US has stated clearly that this face-to-face communication does not indicate that the Biden administration has recognised Taliban as the new official government of Afghanistan. The delegation will urge the terrorist organisation to show positive changes in their behaviour to win the trust of the US government and several other western governments.

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"We remain clear that any legitimacy must be earned through the Taliban's own actions," the spokesperson said.

The delegation will also urge Taliban to let the US citizens and US allies leave Afghanistan peacefully and unharmed whenever these people wish to in the future. The US has admitted that while majority of the American citizens and allies have been rescued from the Taliban-ruled country, there are nearly 100 people who have ties with Afghanistan and still remain there.

This news has come a little afterat least 55 people were killed in Afghanistan's Kunduz mosque blast in an atack claimed by Taliban's opposing terrorist groups ISIS-K.