In an exclusive interview with Afghanistan International, Mansoor Ahmad Khan, former Pakistan ambassador to Afghanistan, said that despite the Taliban's takeover of Kabul, families of many of the group’s leaders still live in Pakistan.
He said that he heard that the family of Mullah Yaqoob, the Taliban's defence minister, has been living in Pakistan too.
During the war with the former government and NATO forces, families of the Taliban leaders and commanders were living in different countries in the region, including Pakistan and Qatar. The former government in Afghanistan had pointed to the presence of families of Taliban leaders in Pakistan and considered it as a sign of Pakistan's support for terrorist groups.
Despite the Taliban's control over Afghanistan, it is not clear why the families of several Taliban leaders live in Pakistan now.
The former Pakistan ambassador also said that the international community had been eager to work with the Taliban for the "first seven months" of the group's rule in Afghanistan. According to him, when the Taliban closed girls' schools, the level of engagement with the group also declined.
The Taliban ignored the two major demands of the international community, the education of girls and the formation of an inclusive government. Taliban said that these are internal issues of Afghanistan. However, the international community, especially Western governments, have continuously emphasised that the violation of women's rights is the main obstacle to the world's engagement with this group.
Although Pakistan has played a major role in the return of the Taliban to power, it has not yet recognised the Taliban government.
Mansoor Ahmad Khan emphasised that Afghanistan's neighbours and the world prefer an inclusive government to be formed in Afghanistan.
Mansoor Ahmad Khan had been appointed as Pakistan's ambassador in Kabul during the last year of Ashraf Ghani's government, and his mission coincided with the Taliban's return to power. In 2022, he resigned from the Pakistan embassy, and Islamabad appointed Obaid Ur Rehman Nizamani as the charge d'affaires of the Pakistan embassy in Kabul.
