The radical Taliban movement (banned in the Russian Federation), which has seized power in Afghanistan, demands that the United States fulfill earlier obligations, lift sanctions and unblock the Afghan assets, deputy Taliban spokesman Bilal Karimi said.
"The most important issue is that the US must fulfill its promises, lift sanctions, unblock Afghanistan's assets and clear the way for formal diplomatic relations based on mutual respect," he was quoted by Shamshad News as saying on Thursday.
Karimi was commenting on the recent talks held in Abu Dhabi (UAE) between Minister of Defense in the Taliban's interim government Mohammad Yaqub and US Special Representative for Afghanistan Thomas West. Mohammad Yaqub assured West that the Taliban were in control of the security situation in Afghanistan, were securing the country's borders and guaranteed that they would not allow threats to other nations from its territory.
On February 29, 2020, in Doha, Qatar, the US and the Taliban signed an agreement under which the Taliban committed to end terrorist and military activities and the US committed to withdraw troops within 14 months. In 2021, the Taliban launched a massive operation to take control of Afghanistan after the US announced the withdrawal. On August 15, 2021, the Taliban entered Kabul without a fight, and President Ashraf Ghani left the republic. On September 6, the Taliban announced that they had taken control of all of Afghanistan, and on September 7 they announced the composition of the provisional government, whose legitimacy has not yet been recognized by any country.
GSV "Russia - Islamic world"
Photo: Lisa Ferdinando/Creative Commons 2.0
Based on materials from TASS