Islamabad: The Afghan Taliban have said the group will not allow anyone to use Afghanistan’s territory against another country, saying a future political set up would include members of all ethnic groups.
The Taliban have seized power in Afghanistan two weeks before the United States was set to complete its troop withdrawal after a two-decade war. The insurgents stormed across the country, capturing all major cities in a matter of days, as Afghan security forces trained and equipped by the US and its allies melted away.
“We want that Afghans from different ethnicities should be part of it [future government],” Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen said in an interview with Nuqta e Nazar, a news show on Pakistani TV channel Dunya News on Monday night. “All ethnicities [will be included] on the basis of their capacities, their salience.”
Shaheen said the group had conveyed the message to the world that it would not allow anyone to use Afghan soil against any other country: “Those who have a foreign agenda, [we] will not allow them to use Afghan soil,” he said, when questioned about Pakistan’s concerns that the Afghan Taliban would support militant groups working against Pakistan.
“We are committed to basic rights, whether they are Afghan males or females,” the spokesperson said. “On education, work, laws ... all Afghans are the same before the law.”
He said there would be no “obstruction” to minorities practicing their faiths.
Earlier on Monday, Pakistan’s National Security Committee (NSC), the country’s highest civil-military coordination forum, called on all parties in Afghanistan to respect rule of law, protect fundamental rights of all Afghans, and ensure that Afghan soil was not used by any militants group against any country.
“Participants reiterated that Pakistan remains committed to an inclusive political settlement as the way forward representing all Afghan ethnic groups,” a statement released after the meeting said.
