TOKYO: Japan urged the Taliban government to respect human rights during a rare diplomatic meeting with a senior member of the visiting Afghan delegation, Tokyo said on Wednesday.

`Several` high-ranking Taliban officials have been invited by the Nippon Foundation, the Tokyo-based nonprofit said, reportedly on a week-long trip. It is the first time that members of the Taliban government have visited Japan since their 2021 takeover in Afghanistan.

Toshihide Ando, head of the Japanese foreign ministry`s Middle Eastern and African affairs bureau, met a senior Taliban delegate on Tuesday, a ministry official said. He `encouraged them to respect human rights and promote an inclusive political process`, they said.

The Taliban authorities have imposed a harsh interpretation of law on the population, including the return of public floggings and exe cutions. Women have been barred from education, work and many public spaces in what the United Nations has described as `gender apartheid`.

The ministry declined to identify the Taliban official who met Ando, but Afghan media have said the group includes those overseeing higher education and foreign affairs policies.

The Taliban government makes regular visits to neighbouring and regional countries, including in Central Asia, Russia and China. However, it has only officially visited Europe for diplomacy summits in Norway in 2022 and 2023.-AFP