Any Discussion About Recognition of Taliban Unacceptable, Says US State Dept Spokesperson

In recent years, due to differences among the senior leaders of the Jamiat-e-Islami Party, Noor established a splinter group.

Noor also asked other political forces opposing the Taliban to stand together to save Afghanistan.

In an Eid message, Noor said that over the past two years, "the cruel and ignorant Taliban has taken away people's happiness”.

He emphasised that the Taliban have deprived Afghan citizens of democratic governance and fundamental rights, eliminated political groups, and tortured and killed former security forces.

After the Taliban took control of Afghanistan in 2021, several Afghan political leaders established the National Resistance Council for the Salvation of Afghanistan. They include Atta Mohammad Noor, Mohammad Ismail Khan, Yunos Qanooni, Ahmad Massoud, and Salahuddin Rabbani.

However, AFF and NRF in separate statements emphasised that currently, they are not in favour of engagement with the Taliban.

The two military anti-Taliban fronts have also condemned the statement of the UN deputy secretary general about the recognition of the Taliban.

NRF said, "Lobbying for the Taliban is a futile task and against the interests of the people of Afghanistan.”

According to NRF, "The path to freedom and the return of peace to Afghanistan will come from standing up, fighting and sacrificing, not from engaging [and] dealings with the Taliban."

The Afghanistan Liberation Front, which has lost seven of its prominent forces in a recent clash with the Taliban, has said that political talks with the Taliban have no results and considers "armed struggles against the group as the most effective solution”.

In a statement on Thursday, AIHRC stressed that the Taliban oppress the people of Afghanistan and has an autocratic government.

The Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission, which operates outside of Afghanistan after the fall of the former government, has described the official recognition of the Taliban as "reckless and insulting" to the victims of the Taliban.

On Monday, Amina Mohammed, the UN deputy secretary general said that the recognition of the Taliban is necessary to make the group responsible and prevent the deterioration of the situation in Afghanistan.

However, on Thursday, a UN spokesman, Farhan Haq admitted that the remarks of Mohammed had "caused confusion". He emphasised that only member states of the UN can recognise the Taliban.

During Raisi’s speech, the Taliban’s diplomat in charge of the Afghan embassy in Tehran was also present.

Raisi stressed that good relations with Islamic countries and neighbouring countries is one of the priorities of the foreign policy of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

He called Afghanistan a member of the Islamic world and added that it is time to realise the will of the people of this country to determine their destiny.

The Islamic Republic has repeatedly asked the Taliban to form an inclusive government. The Taliban, however, considers the Iranian official’s call for the formation of an inclusive government to be an interference in their internal affairs.

However, last week, in response to the call of the Iranian foreign minister, Hossein Amir Abdollahian, for an inclusive government at the Samarkand meeting, the Taliban’s foreign minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi replied that he has not witnessed any inclusive government too.

The audio message of the Taliban spokesperson apparently targets the Taliban’s interior minister, Sirajuddin Haqqani, who published his own Eid message on Tuesday and did not mention Mullah Hibatullah in it.

Mujahid said in a voice message that sending independent messages out to the public may be against the group's united policy and may cause trouble.

It seems that the circle that supports Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada, the leader of the Taliban, is worried about the appearance of Haqqani group leaders as independent leaders of the Taliban.

In the Eid message of Sirajuddin Haqqani, there is no mention of Mullah Hibatullah, and in general, he talked about the security of Afghanistan and emphasised on providing security by his own forces.