Ahead of Taliban and American’s first direct talks even since the latter withdrew from Afghanistan in August, the former has ruled out cooperation to contain extremist groups in the country. 

Senior Taliban officials and US representatives are set to meet in Doha over the weekend and discuss various issues including reining in extremist groups and the evacuation of foreign citizens and Afghans from the country. 

However, prior to the meeting, the Taliban political spokesman Suhail Shaheen told The Associated Press that Taliban won’t work with the US on containing Islamic State group in Afghanistan, which has taken responsibility for a number of recent attacks, including a suicide bombing on Friday that killed 46 minority Shiite Muslims and injured dozens as they prayed in a mosque in the northern city of Kunduz.

“We are able to tackle Daesh independently,” Shaheen said, when asked whether the Taliban would work with Washington to contain the Islamic State affiliate. 

The meetings in Doha are the first since US forces withdrew from Afghanistan in August, ending a 20-year military presence as the Taliban took over the country.

Shaheen also told The Associated Press that the talks will also revisit the peace agreement the Taliban signed with Washington in 2020, which had paved the way for the final US withdrawal from Afghanistan. 

“Yes there is a meeting . . . about bilateral relations and implementation of the Doha agreement. It covers various topics” Shaheen said. 

The talks come two days after discussions between Pakistani officials and US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman in Islamabad during which the former urged Washington to engage with Taliban and release billions of dollars in international funds to prevent an economic meltdown. Pakistan also urged Taliban to become more inclusive and pay attention to human rights and minority ethnic and religious groups.