US Officials Hold First Meeting With Taliban Since Strike on Al-Qaeda Leader - Reports

WASHINGTON, (Sputnik) - High-ranking US officials have held the first in-person meeting with the Taliban (under UN sanctions for terrorism) since the elimination of Ayman al-Zawahiri, leader of al-Qaeda (a terrorist group, banned in Russia), CNN reports citing sources.

Two officials familiar with the talks told CNN that the Saturday meeting in the Qatari capital of Doha was attended by the Taliban’s head of intelligence, Abdul Haq Wasiq, and CIA Deputy Director David Cohen, as well as the US State Department’s Special Representative for Afghanistan, Tom West.

According to CNN, the presence of Cohen and Wasiq at the talks "indicates an emphasis on counterterrorism."

On August 1, US President Joe Biden announced that al-Zawahiri was killed in a drone strike in Kabul on July 31. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the Taliban "grossly" violated the Trump-era Doha agreement by hosting and sheltering the al-Qaeda leader.

The Taliban (under UN sanctions for terrorism) took power in Afghanistan in August of 2021, triggering the collapse of the US-backed government and accelerating Washington's troop pullout.