The Taliban announced that the group’s defense minister, Mullah Yaqoob, has met with the "newly recruited forces from Panjshir province”. Yaqoob, while addressing these forces, said, "The enemies work to create rifts on ethnic and political lines.”
The Taliban defense minister’s meeting with the new recruits took place on Thursday at the group’s Joint Training Command.
Yaqoob emphasised that the group’s government doesn't believe in ethnic discrimination, including the Tajik, Pashtun, and Hazara.
Yaqoob’s stance comes at a time when many Taliban critics and citizens of Afghanistan accuse the group of "ethnic cleansing".
The group has focused on new recruits in their military from Panjshir as the National Resistance Front (NRF) forces have been fighting against the Taliban in various northern provinces.
