Michael McCaul criticises US diplomats for meeting the Taliban

The Chairman of the US House Foreign Affairs Committee, Michael McCaul, has criticised the US diplomats meeting the Taliban.

McCaul, in a tweet on Wednesday, directed at the US Special Envoy for Women and Girls, Rina Amiri, whose remarks on direct engagement with the Taliban attracted widespread criticism, said that meetings with the group needed to stop.

CHM @RepMcCaul: "There are more repressive edicts against Afghan women & girls today than there were when @SE_AfghanWGH took office. Afghans don’t ask for more US engagement, as it isn’t helping the women & girls and is normalizing the Taliban. These meetings should stop." https://t.co/siu34cFOAy

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— House Foreign Affairs Committee Majority (@HouseForeignGOP) August 2, 2023

On Monday, a delegation of US diplomats headed by the country’s Special Representative for Afghanistan, Thomas West, met a Taliban delegation headed by the group’s Foreign Minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi, in Doha, Qatar.

The US State Department said that they had discussed had discussed “critical interests” and “confidence building in support of the Afghan people”.

The Taliban’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Abdul Qahar Balkhi,  said that the group’s delegation led, by Amir Khan Muttaqi, had discussed “taking practical steps” on “removing blacklists & lifting sanctions, unfreezing DAB reserves, economic stability of Afghanistan, countering narcotics.”