According to the Nippon Foundation, the officials are anticipated to gather information for future nation-building, but they will not reveal the exact timetable for “security reasons.”
Toshihide Ando, the Foreign Ministry’s special representative for Afghanistan, will meet with the delegation, the Japanese government said.Well… According to their hosts, the Japanese grant-making organization Nippon Foundation, high-level Taliban officials have arrived in Japan. This is the first time the Taliban have visited the country since seizing control of Afghanistan in August 2021.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said the visit, while being an initiative of a private organization, is “meaningful” in that it complements the Japanese government’s efforts to work with the international community to “bring a change to the Taliban” regime such as on human rights issues.
The Taliban continue to face criticism for curtailing women’s rights, such as by banning secondary and higher education for girls and imposing restrictions on dress codes and employment opportunities.
In its reasoning for the invitation, the Tokyo-based Nippon Foundation said it wanted Taliban officials “to be aware of the need to broadly accept humanitarian assistance for vulnerable people from the international community.”
The trip was initially unveiled by Latif Nazari, deputy minister of economy of the Taliban regime, who said Saturday on social media platform X that a delegation would be heading to Japan. The group arrived on Sunday.
The Taliban is not recognized by the Japanese government as Afghanistan’s official government.
