Representatives of Afghanistan’s Taliban government began meetings on Sunday with UN officials as they attended talks in Doha with special envoys to the Central Asian country for the first time, a UN spokesperson said.

The two-day, UN-hosted meeting in Qatar is the third of its kind in the gas-rich emirate in just over a year but the first to include Taliban authorities who seized power in Afghanistan in 2021.

“Preparatory discussions have begun with the UN meeting separately with many of the special envoys in attendance and with the Taliban representatives,” the UN spokesperson, who asked not to be named, told AFP.

UN officials and over 20 envoys, including the US special representative to Afghanistan, were expected to meet with the Taliban government’s delegation led by spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid.