Taliban team at Afghan peace talks in Qatar to include women: Spokesperson.

KABUL: Women will be included for the first time in the Taliban delegation to peace talks in Qatar this month, the movement's main spokesperson said on Monday, ahead of the latest round of meetings aimed at ending the war in Afghanistan.For a group notorious for its strictly conservative attitude to women's rights, the move represents a step toward addressing demands that women be included in the talks, intended to lay the foundations for a future peace settlement.

The April 19-21 meeting in Doha will be the latest in a series of talks between Taliban and US officials and is also expected to include a 150-strong delegation of Afghan politicians and civil society figures."There will be women among Taliban delegation members in the Doha, Qatar meeting," Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban's main spokesperson, said by telephone.

He did not name the women, but added, "These women have no family relationship with the senior members of the Taliban, they are normal Afghans, from inside and outside the country, who have been supporters and part of the struggle of the Islamic Emirate".In a tweet, he specified that the women would only join discussions with Afghan civil society and political representatives, not in the main negotiations with American officials, led by US special peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad.

The Taliban have maintained their rejection of formal talks with the Afghan government, which they dismiss as a "puppet" regime controlled by the United States.While Afghanistan remains a deeply conservative country, especially in rural areas, there have been major advances in women's rights since the US-led campaign of 2001 that toppled the Taliban government.

Many women fear that if the group regains some power, many of these gains could be erased.The movement gained worldwide notoriety when it came to power in the 1990s by forcing women to wear full facial covering and imposing severe...