Yaqoob said that the Taliban did not intend to enter the capital, Kabul, but after former president Ashraf Ghani fled Kabul, the group’s forces entered the city on the evening of August 15, 2021.
The Taliban's Defence Minister claimed that the group’s leader had not allowed the capture of provincial capitals. However, he said when they were engaged in a battle in Lashkargah city, the Nimroz provincial capital, fell under Taliban control.
Nimroz was the first province in Afghanistan that fell to the Taliban in 2021.
Mullah Yaqoob said, "They [Taliban members] called from Nimroz province that the province has fallen, the officials all have fled to Iran with their vehicles and weapons, and the city is empty. We ordered them to move towards the provincial center and told them that even if a soldier stands in front of you, don't fight and wait." He emphasised that the soldiers of the previous government did not stand up against the group in Nimroz.
He went on to say that other provinces fell to this group one after the other without any exchange of fire.
Regarding the fall of Kabul, the Taliban’s Defence Minister said, "Our position was that we were waiting. We were working with Zabihullah Mujahid on the statement that we do not intend to fight in Kabul, and we will not enter the city by force. We told our troops to wait around Kabul city and we were voting on the decision. It was reported from Kabul that Ashraf Ghani had fled. Actually, Ashraf Ghani had gone out in the morning, and we decided to enter Kabul at night.”
Mullah Yaqoob added, "The senior officials from within the previous government said that the emirate's forces had entered Kabul city and that theft and looting were going on. I was in Kandahar and the next day, I left for Kabul."
Border conflicts
Regarding the border clashes with Iran and Pakistan, the Taliban’s Defence Minister said that the solution to border tensions is diplomacy, but in some cases, the military option is a solution. Yaqoob mentioned the construction of roads, checkpoints, and barbed wire at the Afghanistan’s joint borders with neighbouring countries as the reason for the border skirmish.
Confirming the border clashes, the Taliban’s Defence Minister added that in some cases, the border forces of Pakistan and Iran had opened fire on the movement of the public and had killed Afghans. He clarified that these countries "build roads and checkpoints or install barbed wire" in the border areas and in the territory of Afghanistan.
After regaining control of Afghanistan, the Taliban had many cases of border skirmishes with border guards of Iran and Pakistan. In the latest case, because of the gunfight between the Taliban and the border guards of the Islamic Republic in Nimroz, one Taliban member and two border guards of the Islamic Republic were killed.
US continues to occupy Afghanistan’s airspace
In his interview with TOLOnews, Mullah Yaqoob once again said that the airspace of Afghanistan is still under the "occupation" of the United States and that the airspace of Afghanistan is being violated. This Taliban official emphasised that the issue is a part of the Doha Agreement, which is being violated by the US.
Negotiations in Doha
The Taliban's defence minister spoke about the negotiations between the Taliban and the United States in Doha and said that these talks had two phases-"one side was with the Americans, and the second side was intra-Afghan negotiations”. He clarified that the Taliban believed that they would not negotiate with the Afghan side until the group reached an agreement with the United States.
Mullah Yaqoob said that the reason why the Taliban refused to talk with the representatives of the previous government of Afghanistan was "because they did not have the authority and competence, and the domestic and foreign policy [of Afghanistan] was in the hands of the Americans."
Yaqoob added that the group's agreement with the United States has annexes, but these annexes are not a confidential issue. He emphasised that these annexes have been about the technicality of the withdrawal of foreign forces or implementation of the Doha agreement.
This senior Taliban official further said that the Americans have repeatedly violated the Doha agreement.
On another issue, the Taliban's defence minister said that their engagement in war in the past 20 years had not been expensive and costly. Mullah Yaqoob said, "We could blow up an American tank which cost millions of dollars, with a yellow barrel.”
The Taliban’s Defence Minister rejected the military support of Pakistan, Iran, China, and Russia to the Taliban and said that over the last five-six years during which he has overseen the war, the group has not received any military or financial aid from these countries. He called the regional countries' support for the Taliban, a propaganda to discredit the group.
On the issue of recognition of the Taliban, the group’s defence minister expressed dissatisfaction with the world's non-recognition of the Taliban government and said that the Taliban has met the conditions set by the international community. However, Mullah Yaqoob said that some of the world's demands are problematic because they contradict the Sharia laws.
On the issue of inclusive government, Mullah Yaqoob said that the group's definition of inclusive government is different from what the world wants. He added, "The world wants us to appoint people according to their orders. In the negotiations, our position was that we would not give foreigners a chance to interfere in the internal affairs of Afghanistan. They include, how the government should be and what structure it should have, who should be in the government and who should not be, and issues such as education and freedom of expression are internal issues of Afghans.”
The Taliban’s Defence Minister also denied any differences between the group’s leaders and said that there is no division, opposition, or resistance within the Taliban.
Mullah Yaqoob also discussed the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan members’ presence in Afghanistan and said that Afghanistan is a vast country with high mountains and large plains and maybe someone is hiding in the villages.
He reacted to the Pakistani authorities’ claims regarding the presence of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan in Afghanistan and said, "When the TTP operates in Islamabad and other big cities, the Pakistani government cannot prevent it and accuse us."
The Taliban's defence minister also discussed the issue of the general amnesty announced by the group and said that he had heard about the amnesty violations by the Taliban members, but he stressed that the group's senior officials and individuals had not disobeyed the amnesty order. He said, “Maybe in some areas, there has been an individual and retaliations, and we accept that such cases have been there."
Mullah Yaqoob is the son of Mullah Omar, the founding leader of the Taliban. He said that he did not meet his father for thirteen years. Mullah Yaqoob added that Mullah Omar was hiding one and a half kilometers from an American military base, which was the largest military base in southern Afghanistan.
