The Taliban has expressed its interest to have good ties with India and all of Afghanistan’s neighbours and said that the Afghan soil shall not be permitted to be used to carry out terror activities.
“We would like good relations with all the countries in the neighbourhood on the basis of mutual respect and mutual interests”, said Mohammad Suhail Shaheen, the spokesperson of the group.
He was speaking at a webinar organized by the New Delhi based thinktank, Global Counter-Terrorism Council (GCTC).
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He further added that “we will never want any foreign organization using Afghan soil to target another country. We will bring a law to stop any such activity”.
Speaking about the state of Afghanistan, he allayed fears of those who questioned him about the regressive Taliban government of 1996-2001 and said that the new ‘Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan’ would be committed towards promoting women’s education and will build a modern Afghanistan.
The group has been carrying out COVID-19 related relief work in the Herat Province of the country.
Also speaking at the webinar was Former Indian Ambassador to Afghanistan and current member of the National Security Advisory Board Amar Sinha who doubted the intentions of the Taliban. He pointed out that the group was dependent on Pakistan and cannot be trusted on any matter.
It is a well-known fact that anti-Indian groups have found support from Taliban.
The Doha deal has fallen through because of differences between the various groups and factions consisting of the Taliban and the failure to proceed with the Intra-Afghan dialogue.
The latter has failed as President Ashraf Ghani has refused to release 5000 Taliban prisoners. This was a deal which was signed between the Taliban and the US, without the support of the present Afghan government.