India, Germany, and other nations won’t recognize any government backed by violence in Afghanistan

India, Germany, Qatar, Turkey, and several other nations have reaffirmed to not recognize any government in Afghanistan that is imposed through the use of military force and called for an immediate end to violence and attacks in the war-torn country.

A statement issued by Qatar on Friday following two separate meetings on Afghanistan in Doha said the participating countries agreed that the Afghan peace process needs to be accelerated as a matter of “great urgency”.

The statement came as the Taliban continued its onslaught capturing a number of key cities in the last couple of days including Kandahar and Herat, Afghanistan’s second and third largest cities while significantly expanding its territorial control across the country.

It said the participants urged the Taliban and the Afghan government to build trust and accelerate efforts to reach a political settlement and comprehensive ceasefire as quickly as possible.

The first meeting on August 19 was joined by the representatives of China, Uzbekistan, the US, Pakistan, the UK, Qatar, the UN and the European Union, the Qatari foreign ministry said.

The second meeting on August 12 was attended by representatives of Germany, India, Norway, Qatar, Tajikistan, Turkey and Turkmenistan, the US, and the UN, it said.