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ISLAMABAD — Taliban supreme chief Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada stated Wednesday that Afghan soil won’t be used to launch assaults in opposition to different international locations, and he requested the worldwide group to not intervene in Afghanistan’s inside affairs.
The Taliban say they’re adhering to an settlement they signed with the US in 2020 — earlier than retaking energy — through which they promised to struggle terrorists. Since their takeover final 12 months, they’ve repeatedly stated Afghanistan wouldn’t be used as a launching pad for assaults in opposition to different international locations.
“We guarantee our neighbors, the area and the world that we are going to not permit anybody to make use of our territory to threaten the safety of different international locations. We additionally need different international locations to not intervene in our inside affairs,” Akhundzada stated in an tackle forward of the Eid al-Adha vacation.
The Taliban had been ousted by a U.S.-led coalition in 2001 for harboring Osama bin Laden, mastermind of the 9/11 assaults in the US. The spiritual group captured energy once more in mid-August, through the chaotic final weeks of the U.S. and NATO withdrawal from Afghanistan.
The worldwide group has been cautious of any recognition or cooperation with the Taliban, particularly after they restricted the rights of girls and minorities — measures that harken again to their harsh rule once they had been final in energy within the late Nineties.
Akhundzada, the non secular chief of the Taliban, has remained a reclusive determine. He rose to chief of the Islamist motion in a swift transition of energy after a 2016 U.S. drone strike killed his predecessor, Mullah Akhtar Mansour.
After taking up, Akhundzada secured the backing of al-Qaida chief Ayman al-Zawahiri, who showered the cleric with reward, calling him “the emir of the devoted.” The endorsement by bin Laden’s inheritor helped seal his jihadist credentials with the Taliban’s longtime allies.
Nonetheless, in his Eid message Akhundzada stated: “Throughout the framework of mutual interplay and dedication, we would like good, diplomatic, financial and political relations with the world, together with the US, and we take into account this within the curiosity of all sides.”
A 3-day meeting of Islamic clerics and tribal elders within the Afghan capital that concluded Saturday included pledges of help for the Taliban and calls on the worldwide group to acknowledge the nation’s Taliban-led authorities.
In a shock growth, the reclusive Akhundzada got here to Kabul from his base in southern Kandahar province and addressed the gathering Friday. It was believed to be his first go to to the Afghan capital because the Taliban seized energy.
In an hour-long speech on the meeting carried by state radio, Akhundzada known as the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan a “victory for the Muslim world.”
A strong earthquake in June killed greater than 1,000 individuals in jap Afghanistan, igniting one more disaster for the economically struggling nation. Overstretched support teams already conserving thousands and thousands of Afghans alive rushed provides to the quake victims, however most international locations responded tepidly to Taliban requires worldwide assist.
The worldwide cut-off of Afghanistan’s financing has deepened the nation’s financial collapse and fueled its humanitarian crises.
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