Taliban pledges to protect infrastructural projects in Afghanistan

The Taliban militant group has pledged to protect Afghanistan's infrastructural projects worth billions of dollars that have been stalled for years due to the ongoing militancy across the war-ravaged country.

The group said in a surprise statement on Tuesday that it "backs all national projects which are in the interest of the people and result in the development and prosperity of the nation."

The Taliban are "also committed to safeguarding" the projects, the statement added.

The group said a gas pipeline project and a multi-billion dollar copper mine known as Mes Aynak south of the capital Kabul are among projects that Taliban would protect. The militant group said it was also ready to protect highways and railways.

The Taliban militants have been repeatedly accused of launching violent attacks against aid workers and infrastructural projects.

Shahhussain Murtazawi, a spokesman for Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, has expressed skepticism about the pledge.

"They inflicted more than two billion dollars worth of damage to public and private properties and infrastructure during two months of their violent campaign in Afghanistan," Murtazawi said, referring to the Taliban's fall offensive in 2016.

"How could we trust them now? They have to prove their promises in action," the spokesman added.

SS