Taliban says it 'will not work with US to contain Islamic State'

The Taliban has said it will not co-operate with the United States to contain extremist groups in Afghanistan.

It comes ahead of talks between US representatives and senior Taliban officials this weekend – the first since American and allied troops withdrew from Afghanistan in late August.

The talks are to take place in Qatar's capital Doha on Saturday and Sunday.

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The US and allied withdrawal from Afghanistan ended their 20 years of military involvement there, which enabled the Taliban to regain power.

Since the Taliban came to power, extremists from so-called Islamic State (IS) have increased attacks on the militant group, as well ason ethnic and religious minorities.

On Friday, an IS suicide bomber killed at least 46 minority Shia Muslims and wounded dozens in the deadliest attack since the US departure.

The US-Taliban agreement, negotiated by the Trump administration last year, demanded the Taliban sever ties with terror groups and ensure Afghanistan would no longer harbour terrorists who could attack the US or its allies.

The Taliban has made clear it does not want anti-terrorism help from America, or so-called "over-the-horizon" strikes on Afghan soil from outside its borders.

Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen said: "We are able to tackle Daesh (another term for IS) independently."

Mr Shaheen said the talks will revisit the peace agreement the Taliban signed with Washington in 2020, which paved the way for the US withdrawal.

He added the meeting would be "about bilateral relations and implementation of the Doha agreement", which would cover "various topics".

Washington wants Taliban leaders to hold to their commitments that they would allow Americans and other foreign nationals to leave Afghanistan, along with Afghans who once worked for the US military or government and other Afghan allies, a US official said.

The Biden administration has fielded questions and complaints about the slow pace of US-facilitated evacuations from Taliban-ruled Afghanistan since the US withdrawal.