US holds first in-person meeting with Taliban after al Qaeda leader's murder

Top Biden administration officials met in-person with the Taliban on October 8 for the first time since al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri was killed by the US in his apartment in Kabul in late July 2022.

The administration sent the CIA’s deputy director and the top State Department official responsible for Afghanistan to the Qatari capital of Doha for the talks with the Taliban delegation which included their head of intelligence, Abdul Haq Wasiq, two officials familiar with the talks said, according to CNN.

After Zawahiri was killed in a strike, the US accused the Taliban of a "clear and blatant violation of the Doha agreement", brokered by the Trump administration, which said that the Taliban would not harbor terrorists if US forces withdrew from Afghanistan, which they did in August 2021.

The presence of CIA Deputy Director David Cohen and the Taliban’s Wasiq at the meeting indicates an emphasis on counterterrorism.