According to State Department spokesman Ned Price, a US intra-agency delegation left for Doha on Saturday and Sunday to discuss “security and terrorism concerns and safe passage for US citizens, other foreign nationals and our Afghan partners.”

Price said the focus of the talks would also be on other areas such as “human rights, including the meaningful participation of women and girls in all aspects of Afghan society,”

The two sides also discussed the provision of strong humanitarian assistance to the Afghan people directly from the U.S.

According to the State Department, the talks were “candid and professional” and US officials reiterated that “the Taliban will be judged not only on their words but on their actions.”

Since returning to power in August after the withdrawal of US troops after a 20-year war, the Taliban are seeking international recognition as well as help in averting humanitarian catastrophe.

Meanwhile, in a startling video announcement, the general of the presidential palace guard, Brigadier General Piraz Ata Sharifi, the chief bodyguard of then president Ashraf Ghani, said, “I have a CCTV recording from the palace which shows that an individual at the Afghan Bank brought a lot of money to Ghani before he left.”

He claimed that Ghani fled the country with bags containing billions of dollars days before Kabul fell to the Taliban.

He maintained that the money was supposed to be for the currency exchange market, adding that each Thursday, dollars were brought for that purpose.

“Instead, it was taken by the president. Ghani knew in the end what would happen. So he took all the money and escaped,” he added.

The Afghan general said he never thought the president would do what he did. He said he would share information when he was in a safe place. On August 16, the general tried to reach the airport but failed.

With a 1 million Afghanis ($10,000) bounty on his head, he and his extended family of 14 members, including his university-educated wife and three children, the youngest of whom is a nine-month-old son, has been on the run. The president never told them he was leaving, adding that “they just ran away and left me behind.”

Sharifi said, “If the Taliban come here, I will kill myself. If they capture me they will kill me anyway,” he added.

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