Amir Khan Muttaqi, the Taliban’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, says there is no need to initiate a new process for talks with the opposition and that all opponents are free to return to Afghanistan.
In an interview with the BBC, Muttaqi said that “the doors are open to all opponents” and that they can live in Afghanistan, but that establishing a new process for dialogue is unnecessary.
He also described the ongoing clashes between the Taliban and armed opposition groups in Badakhshan as a normal issue and rejected claims by opposition groups that the situation in the province is deteriorating.
Muttaqi alleged that the armed opposition groups are “mercenaries of others” and claimed that the Taliban have defeated them.
The Taliban foreign minister’s remarks come as he rejects the need for a new political process with the opposition, while clashes continue in Badakhshan between the Taliban and armed opposition groups, alongside intermittent fighting with Jumma Khan Fateh, a dissident Taliban commander.
Local sources have recently reported that Taliban forces have abandoned some checkpoints in parts of Badakhshan and that the activities of opposition groups have increased. However, the details of these claims have not been independently verified.
In the interview, Muttaqi also spoke about the Taliban government’s achievements, saying that, in his view, their greatest achievements have been “liberating Afghanistan from occupation” and establishing unprecedented security over the past four decades.
Writer:Saeed Sameer
