Khaled Hosseini: Women's rights are not a bargaining chip

The Taliban have opened an office in Qatar, the first step in fledgling peace talks among with the US and the government of Afghanistan.

Author and UN envoy Khaled Hosseini tells the BBC's Katty Kay that the Taliban must understand Afghanistan has changed significantly over the past 12 years and that women's rights cannot be used as a bargaining chip.

"Afghanistan is doomed if women are barred once again from public life," Mr Hosseini said.

Mr Hosseini, author of best-selling novel The Kite Runner and a former refugee himself, spoke in Washington DC on World Refugee Day.