Taliban spokesperson censures US atrocities against Afghans, urges compensation

The Taliban Spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid has condemned the US atrocities against the Afghan people over the past 20 years, and going on, urging Washington to compensate for its acts of brutality.

“There is no point in all this. It is not the first time America has brutally killed the Afghan people. America has been doing this for the last 20 years. This is American bigotry, and the true face of America has been exposed in front of our people and the world,” Mujahid said in an interview with China Global Television Network (CGTN).  He emphasized that America should compensate its atrocities against the Afghans wherever it has committed them.

Pointing to Russia’s hosting of a third conference involving Afghanistan’s neighbors and the new interim rulers on Wednesday, the Taliban spokesman said Moscow organized the meeting with the purpose of showing the “Taliban’s pursuit for international recognition.” He added that Russia seeks to establish peace in Afghanistan but its reservations should be cleared. “We participated in this conference, so that the world would accept us, and our important issues could be discussed with the world.”

Representatives from Russia, China, Pakistan, Iran, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan as well as a high-level delegation representing the Taliban attended the third meeting of the Moscow Format Consultations on Afghanistan in the Russian capital.

A concluding joint statement said, “The core burden of post-conflict economic and financial reconstruction and development of Afghanistan must be shouldered by troop-based actors which were in the country for the past 20 years.”

Mujahid also rejected reports about the death of the Taliban’s supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada two years ago. “He’s alive and absolutely well, he’s in Kandahar, he is leading us.” Akhundzada, he said, would appear within the next days and the world would be able to see and hear him. 

He also pointed to the resumption of education in Afghanistan, saying, “Educational institutions are open in many provinces from grade one to grade six, while in Mazar, Balkh and Kandahar the education system is formally open till grade 12.” He stressed the importance of implementing the Taliban’s plan for the rest of the provinces given “some problem in those provinces.”

“We are working on a major plan and mechanism for the education of women, and as soon as it’s ready, the education system will formally begin.”

SS