While appreciating India’s humanitarian and developmental efforts in Afghanistan, such as building the Salma Dam, roads, and other infrastructure projects, the Taliban has warned India to refrain from playing any military role on the soil of Afghanistan.
In an interview with ANI, the Qatar-based spokesperson of the Taliban Suhail Shaheen said, “What do you mean by a military role? If they come to Afghanistan with the military and have their presence on our soil, that will not be good.
They have seen the fate of other countries and their military presence in Afghanistan. So it is an open book for them. And for their help to the Afghan people or national projects, infrastructure, and anything that is for the development of Afghanistan, for its reconstruction, for economic prosperity and the people of Afghanistan, I think we can appreciate that.”
Taliban Relation with India
India has assisted Afghanistan in capacity building, whether the Parliament, schools, roads, or dams. India has infused more than 2 billion US Dollars in assistance to Afghanistan.
The spokesperson was asked if the Taliban can assure India that they will not use Afghan soil against it. The spokesperson claimed that the group’s policy was to refrain from using its soil against any country, including its neighbors.
“There is no threat or danger from our side to the embassies and diplomats. We’ve said that in our statements many times. We have made a general policy that we’re committed not to allow anyone to use Afghan soil against any country, including the neighboring countries,” said Muhammed Suhail Shaheen.
The Taliban Spokesperson also spoke on the safety issue of Sikhs and Hindus living in Afghanistan. The incident in gurdwara Nishaan Sahib in the Chamkani district of Paktia province had brought down the Sikh religious flag.
The Taliban spokesperson claimed that the Sikh community brought it down, and minorities will practice their rituals. “The Sikh community there itself removed the flag. They removed that themselves. When we heard media reports about the incident, we reached out to our officials in Paktika province.
Our security forces went to the gurdwara to ask about the problem,” said Shaheen adding the group has assured that the community can perform their religious rituals and ceremonies.
The Latest Turmoil in Afghanistan
The Taliban has taken control of almost all the significant provinces, including Kandhar, Herat, Mazhar-e-Sharif, and Lashkar Gah, making swift advances with the nointra-Afghan peace deal.
The Taliban spokesperson stated that there had been no violence, and provinces are falling on their own. “We are taking over the provincial centers and surrounding areas falling in front of us. They are falling voluntarily.
You can see the many videos of hundreds and thousands of security forces and administration. They are coming to our site and joining, that is true, but they are not joining because of violence.
The Kabul administration carries the violence or killing of innocent people, and we highly condemn that. Why should we tell our people to increase violence when it is contrary to our policy.”
“We are hoping to negotiate a deal with Kabul. We expect that to happen as soon as possible, but there is slow progress. The first factor is that the other side is reluctant to show flexibility and reach a solution.
They should willingly come forward and show some flexibility to reach a peaceful solution because our people need that. There are hurdles in releasing our prisoners and removing our universal blacklist, which the Doha agreement mentions, which is very important for confidence-building measures,” the Taliban spokesperson said.
