KABUL, Dec 21: Afghanistan rejects US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s statement about its isolation, as Kabul is maintaining relations with other countries, Hamdullah Fitrat, the deputy spokesman of the Taliban-led (under UN sanctions for terrorism) Afghan government, said.
On Wednesday, at a Council on Foreign Relations meeting in New York, Blinken, comparing events in Syria and Afghanistan, said that interim Afghan government had found itself in a complete isolation since the very beginning of its time in office due to radical reforms.
“Afghanistan is not in isolation. At present, we maintain diplomatic, trade, and economic relations with various countries. We have active political representatives in different nations, and high-level exchanges of delegations with key countries worldwide have taken place. The commitments we made in Doha have been implemented, and we continue to uphold them,” Fitrat was quoted as saying by Tolo News.
The spokesman also stated that the Taliban were implementing reforms “in accordance with Islamic principles” and called on the international community to abstain from interfering in Afghanistan’s internal affairs.
An agreement between the US and Afghanistan was signed in Doha, Qatar, in February 2020. Under the agreement, foreign forces had to be withdrawn from Afghanistan and Washington had to review sanctions and the rewards list against members of the Taliban, as well as launch economic cooperation for reconstruction with the new Afghan government.
The Taliban came to power in Afghanistan in August 2021, toppling the US-backed government as the United States and NATO troops were leaving the country after almost 20 years of military presence there. Numerous countries and international organisations responded to the takeover by cutting aid to and ties with Kabul.
In early October, the director of Russia’s Federal Security Service, Alexander Bortnikov, said that Moscow was completing the work on removing the Taliban from Russia’s list of terrorist organisations. (UNI)
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