Convinced US Not To Support Armed Resistance in Afghanistan, Says Taliban’s FM

Amir Khan Muttaqi, the Taliban’s foreign minister, said that the group had been able to convince regional countries and the United States not to support the armed resistance in Afghanistan.

Muttaqi added, "We will not allow Afghanistan to once again become the center of destructive competition between the countries of the world."

After the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021, at least two resistance fronts, consisting of the former government's military and uprising forces, have been engaged in armed resistance against the group.

The Taliban have called the "Afghanistan Freedom Front" and "National Resistance Front" as "insurgents" and have waged brutal attacks against these fronts’ forces.

On the other hand, the anti-Taliban fronts have often attacked the positions of the Taliban in various regions of Afghanistan and killed Taliban members.

Previously, American and European Union officials had said that they do not support the armed resistance in Afghanistan.

Muttaqi considered the international community's approach of not supporting the armed resistance in Afghanistan to be the result of the Taliban government's "balanced foreign policy".

On Tuesday, the Taliban's foreign minister also accused the international community of using the issue of recognition of the Taliban government as a pressure tool, and stressed that no specific conditions have been communicated for the recognition of the Taliban.

Muttaqi added that the formation of an inclusive government, human rights, and security issues are "the excuses of the international community" not to recognise the Taliban.

The Taliban’s foreign minister said that the group’s government is "inclusive in every sense" and representatives of various regions and ethnic groups are present in the Taliban’s cabinet.

This senior Taliban official emphasised once again that the group’s government seeks political and economic relations with all the countries of the world.

On the other hand, the foreign minister of the Taliban claimed that the embassies of this group are active in some countries and the fact that the embassies of some countries are open in Kabul "means recognition" of the Taliban.

However, Muttaqi said that the international community would normalise its relations with the Taliban "in the near future".

Muttaqi also said that "Pakistan's existing problems are an internal matter and we have always given guarantees on our behalf” to Islamabad.