A Taliban delegation on Sunday attended a UN-led meeting in Qatar on Afghanistan after organisers said women would be excluded from the gathering.

The two-day meeting is the third UN-sponsored gathering on the Afghan crisis in the Qatari capital of Doha.

Zabihullah Mujahid, the chief spokesman for the Taliban government who leads its delegation, wrote on social media platform X that the delegation met with representatives from countries including Russia, India and Uzbekistan on the sidelines of the meeting.

The Taliban were not invited to the first meeting, and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said they set unacceptable conditions for attending the second one in February, including demands that Afghan civil society members be excluded from talks and the Taliban be treated as the country’s legitimate rulers.

The Taliban seized power in August 2021 as US and Nato forces were in the final weeks of their pullout from the country following two decades of war. No country has officially recognised the Taliban as Afghanistan’s government, and the UN has said recognition is almost impossible while bans on female education and employment remain in place.

Mujahid on Saturday in Kabul said the delegation was going to Doha “to seek understanding and resolve issues”.