Qatar, host of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) summit, has invited toppled Afghan president Burhanuddin Rabbani and the Taliban militia that ousted him to participate as observers, an official said Saturday.
The Taliban and Rabbani have been invited "as observers and not as members" at the OIC summit that begins Sunday, said the Qatari official, who requested anonymity.
"We have not yet received a response to our invitation," he said.
The official said Afghanistan's seat at the summit will remain vacant, as it has at all OIC functions since the Taliban ousted Rabbani from Kabul in September 1996.
The Taliban, a fundamentalist Sunni Muslim militia, now controls nearly all of Afghanistan, with the exception of its far northeast.
The Taliban is recognized only by Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, while most countries continue to consider Rabbani as Afghanistan's president -- DOHA (AFP)
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