p2pslotonline|Afghan caretaker gov't to attend 3rd Doha meeting

KABUL, June 17 (Xinhua) -- The Afghan caretaker government will attend the third round of UN-convened talks on Afghanistan, scheduled for June 30 and July 1 in the Qatari capital of Doha, Afghan media reported Sundayp2pslotonline.

"The main and important topics are humanitarian aid in Afghanistan and creating opportunities for investors in Afghanistan," local television channel Tolonews quoted Zabihullah Mujahid, a government spokesman, as saying.

It marks the first time the caretaker government will participate in the meeting. The government was not invited to the first meeting last May and rejected the second in February.

The government told Roza Otunbayeva, UN secretary-general's special representative for Afghanistan and head of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, that its absence from the second meeting was "a reflection of their concern that they were not being treated as a full stakeholder in discussions about Afghanistan," the UN official said at a Security Council meeting in March.

According to Tolonews, Mujahid said that the members of the delegation to the meeting would be announced soon.

International organizations operating in Afghanistan have been urging global donors to increase support, either in cash or in kind, amid a funding crisis since the Afghan caretaker government took power in August 2021.

"One-fourth of all people in Afghanistan go to sleep hungry every evening," said the World Food Programme, warning of a hunger crisis ahead of Eid al-Adha, which falls on Monday in Afghanistan.■