Qatar has reiterated its deep commitment to achieving peace in Afghanistan, continuing its positive role and making efforts to facilitate peace talks between the parties in Afghanistan.

This came during the participation of HE ambassador Sheikha Alya Ahmed bin Saif al-Thani, Permanent Representative of Qatar to the United Nations, as a speaker at a virtual event organised by "Women Forward International" and Georgetown University, in co-operation with the embassy of Qatar to the United States, under the title " Launching Peace in Afghanistan.

HE Sheikha Alya highlighted the role played by Qatar in Afghanistan's peace talks, and touched on Qatar's broad participation in the mediation efforts, facilitating and hosting the peace talks and sponsoring the reconciliation process led and shared by all Afghan parties.

HE Sheikha Alya stressed that preventing conflict, mediation and maintaining peace is a priority of the foreign policy of Qatar.

She expressed the satisfaction and pleasure of Qatar that its efforts resulted in a historic agreement signed in Doha to bring peace to Afghanistan between the United States and the Taliban.

She also expressed the hope of Qatar that the agreement would lead to talks between Afghans, the Taliban and stakeholders in Afghanistan.

She noted that the Afghan peace conference that Doha hosted in July 2019, held under the auspices of Qatar and Germany, aimed at pushing forward the Afghan negotiations for peace.

HE Sheikha Alya stressed the need for involving women in Afghan peace talks, pointing to the commitment of Qatar to guarantee the right of women to peace operations, and made it clear that the lack of participation of women would reduce the possibility of a peaceful settlement on a large scale.

She praised the participation of 11 prominent women from the government and civil society sectors in the Doha Afghan Peace Conference, as well as the participation of civil society representatives, political and religious leaders and youth in the peace conference.

She also highlighted the support of Qatar since the adoption of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 implementing the women's, peace and security agenda, noting Qatar's pride in supporting the global study on the implementation of Council Resolution 1325, which provided a comprehensive and important information that demonstrates that women's participation in peace processes is vital to sustaining peace .

HE Sheikha Alya stressed the importance and necessity of the participation of young women and men in the peace process, where Qatar welcomed the Security Council Resolution 2250 on youth, peace and security, noting the State of Qatar's participation in March 2019 along with Colombia, Finland and the Office of the United Nations Secretary-General's envoy for youth in the first international conference on youth participation in mediation processes held in Helsinki.

She highlighted Qatar's determination to hold the second international conference in co-ordination with the envoy of the Secretary-General for Youth, with a special focus on the role of young women in peace and security. She expressed Qatar's hope that the conference that will be hosted by Doha provides a concrete opportunity to enhance the integration of young women in effective and sustainable peace processes, emphasising the paramount importance of the comprehensive integration of young women and men into peace processes.


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