Despite the Taliban Foreign Minister's eagerness to improve relations with the United States, Washington says it still does not recognise the Taliban due to their human rights record.
Vedant Patel, a spokesperson for the US State Department, said on Wednesday that the Taliban lacks legitimacy and no country recognises the group.
In a press conference, Patel stated “To date no country has publicly announced that it recognises the Taliban as the government of Afghanistan, and we continue to.”
He reiterated the United States' conditions for normalising relations with the Taliban.
Patel said that they urged the Taliban to improve their human rights practices before normalisation of relations.
Amir Khan Muttaqi, the Taliban's Foreign Minister, in an interview with the BBC published on Wednesday, claimed that Western countries will eventually normalise relations with the Taliban.
He said that the Taliban welcomes the return of US diplomats to Afghanistan, not US soldiers.
Regarding the human rights conditions set by the US and other countries for normalising relations, Muttaqi said that it is not stated in international laws that if a country's laws on women's employment are different, it should not be recognised.
The Taliban’s Foreign Minister added that they seek relations with the United States and other world powers because they do not want Afghanistan to become a battleground for major powers.
Three years after regaining control of Afghanistan, the Taliban has not been recognised even by its most important ally, Pakistan.
On Wednesday, the Taliban held a special ceremony at the former US military base in Bagram to commemorate August 15 as the day of the withdrawal of foreign forces and the group's return to power.
