Feb 8, 2022: According to an AFP report, the Swiss Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday that a Taliban delegation was in Geneva to discuss humanitarian access and human rights with Swiss authorities and NGOs.

A delegation of Afghanistan’s new rulers is set to hold talks with the Red Cross and other NGOs in the Swiss city, which is also home to several UN agencies.

“The members of the delegation will have discussions around humanitarian access to populations in need, the protection of humanitarian actors and respect for human rights,” a foreign ministry spokeswoman told AFP.

“The protection of children during conflicts and the management of land contaminated by mines are also on the agenda of the conferences, which take place in a confidential setting.”

The Swiss spokesperson did however stress that their delegation’s presence on Swiss territory “does not represent a legitimisation or recognition of the Taliban”. The country is in the grips of a humanitarian crisis since the US froze Afghan foreign exchange assets after the Taliban takeover last August

Afghanistan’s foreign minister, Amir Khan Mutaqqi said in an interview with AFP last week that the Taliban were moving closer to international recognition, but that any concessions made by Afghanistan’s new rulers would be on their terms. In his first interview since returning from talks with Western powers in Oslo, Foreign Minister Amir Khan Mutaqqi also urged Washington to open up Afghanistan’s assets to help alleviate the humanitarian crisis.

Switzerland’s ATS news agency reported that the delegation was led by Latifullah Hakimi. Hakimi is a senior official in the Taliban’s Ministry of Defense. He is the head of a commission set up by the Taliban government to identify members who were violating the rules of the movement.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said it would hold talks with a delegation from the so-called Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA).

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