ISLAMABAD: The Taliban want to explain their position on the Afghan peace process to countries around the world in “face-to-face meetings,” the group’s political spokesperson Suhail Shaheen told Arab News on Sunday, as a Taliban delegation wrapped up a four-day visit to Moscow.
The Taliban sent a three-member delegation to Russia to discuss prospects for the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan following the collapse of talks with the United States this month. The delegation met with Russian officials, including President Putin’s special envoy for Afghanistan, Zamir Kabulov.
“This is our policy, to brief and explain our position to countries in face-to-face meetings, which are astonished and concerned over the situation,” Shaheen said, but added that no visit had yet been planned.
This was the group’s first foreign trip since US President Donald Trump blocked the near-final Afghan peace deal on September 7 in a series of Twitter posts, citing a Taliban attack that had killed an American soldier and 11 other people.
The Taliban delegation to Moscow was headed by Taliban chief negotiator Sher Abbas Stanekzai, and included Suhail Shaheen and a senior member, Qari Din Muhammad.
“We explained our position to Russian officials and they supported our stance on the political negotiations,” Shaheen said in a series of audio messages.
“They agreed that there is no military solution to the Afghan problem and that the issue should be resolved through political means. They said the peace deal we have finalized with the American side is a strong foundation for peace,” he said.
Russia, which has hosted meetings between the Taliban and Afghan political and civil society representatives, said this week it hoped the process could be put back on track and urged both sides to resume talks.
On Sunday, a Russian news agency quoted its foreign ministry spokesman as saying Moscow had “stressed the necessity of the resumption of talks between the United States and the Taliban movement. Taliban, in turn, reiterated its readiness to continue dialogue with Washington.”
However, it is unclear whether the talks can be resumed.
President Trump tweeted once again on Sunday with reference to the Taliban and the end of the negotiation process.
“The Taliban has never been hit harder than it is being hit right now. Killing 12 people, including one great American soldier, was not a good idea. There are much better ways to set up a negotiation. The Taliban knows they made a big mistake, and they have no idea how to recover!” the US President said on Twitter.
But Shaheen played down Trump’s statements and said military pressure would not work. He added the sensible way was to convene at the negotiation table and sign off on the peace agreement.
“Implementation of the agreement will start after it is inked and we will be bound to implement it. The world will be a witness to check if we violate or they violate,” he said. “Neither they can blame us nor do we blame them (before signing).
“There is no cease-fire now. There is no obligation before the signing so how (can) the Americans blame us for violation of the agreement,” Shaheen said and added that Taliban policy was to “solve the Afghan problem peacefully” and not militarily.
As the Taliban delegation arrived in Moscow on Sept. 12, Russian foreign ministry spokesman Maria Zakharova said during a briefing: “We are convinced that the complete end to foreign military presence is an inalienable condition of durable peace in Afghanistan.”
After Moscow, Taliban want “face-to-face” meetings in other countries
After Moscow, Taliban want “face-to-face” meetings in other countries
- Spokesman says Russia backs group’s stance on finding political solution for Afghan peace process
- Says until agreement with US is signed, there cannot be cease-fire violation
Trump calls for one year cap on credit card interest rates at 10 percent
- Trump says Americans have been ‘ripped off’ by credit card companies
- Lawmakers from both parties have raised concerns about rates
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump said on Friday he was calling for a one-year cap on credit card interest rates at 10 percent starting on January 20 but he did not provide details on how his plan will come to fruition or how he planned to make companies comply.
Trump also made the pledge during the campaign for the 2024 election that he won but analysts dismissed it at the time saying that such a step required congressional approval.
Lawmakers from both the Democratic and Republican Parties have raised concerns about high rates and have called for those to be addressed. Republicans currently hold a narrow majority in both the Senate and the House of Representatives.
There have been some legislative efforts in Congress to pursue such a proposal but they are yet to become law and in his post Trump did not offer explicit support to any specific bill.
Opposition lawmakers have criticized Trump, a Republican, for not having delivered on his campaign pledge.
“Effective January 20, 2026, I, as President of the United States, am calling for a one year cap on Credit Card Interest Rates of 10 percent,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, without providing more details.
“Please be informed that we will no longer let the American Public be ‘ripped off’ by Credit Card Companies,” Trump added.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on details of the call from Trump, but said on social media without elaborating that the president was capping the rates.
Some major US banks and credit card issuers like American Express, Capital One Financial Corp, JPMorgan , Citigroup and Bank of America did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
US Senator Bernie Sanders, a fierce Trump critic, and Senator Josh Hawley, who belongs to Trump’s Republican Party, have previously introduced bipartisan legislation aimed at capping credit card interest rates at 10 percent for five years. This bill explicitly directs credit card companies to limit rates as part of broader consumer relief legislation.
Democratic US Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Republican Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna have also introduced a House of Representatives bill to cap credit card interest rates at 10 percent, reflecting cross-aisle interest in addressing high rates.
Billionaire fund manager Bill Ackman, who endorsed Trump in the last elections, said the US president’s call was a “mistake.”
“This is a mistake,” Ackman wrote on X.
“Without being able to charge rates adequate enough to cover losses and earn an adequate return on equity, credit card lenders will cancel cards for millions of consumers who will have to turn to loan sharks for credit at rates higher than and on terms inferior to what they previously paid.”
Last year, the Trump administration moved to scrap a credit card late fee rule from the era of former President Joe Biden.
The Trump administration had asked a federal court to throw out a regulation capping credit card late fees at $8, saying it agreed with business and banking groups that alleged the rule was illegal. A federal judge subsequently threw out the rule.
