The second two-day meeting convened by the UN on Afghanistan got underway on Sunday in Qatar, in the absence of Islamic Emirate representation.

Hosted by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, special representatives for Afghanistan of at least 20 countries came together in Doha, Qatar, and were expected to discuss a number of issues behind closed doors.

Discussions were also expected to take place about the appointment of a new UN special representative for Afghanistan; the review of the report of Feridon Sinirlioglu, the special coordinator of the UN; and human rights issues, especially women’s rights.

Hassan Kazemi Qomi, Iran’s ambassador and special representative for Afghanistan, who attended Sunday’s meeting, expressed hope that the Doha meeting could solve Afghanistan’s problems.

A number of Afghan women’s rights activists and representatives of the country’s civil society are also attending this meeting.

However, the Islamic Emirate has not sent a delegation.

IEA’s spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid says they requested the UN hold a high level meeting that includes acting Foreign Minister of Afghanistan as the main interlocutor on behalf of Afghanistan.

According to Mujahid, they had proposed the issue of engagement and other important issues for discussion at the meeting but these requests were not met.

Because of this, the IEA decided not to attend the Doha meeting.

Mujahid added that they have no expectations from this meeting.