“We are calling for an immediate change in this misguided policy through diplomatic engagement,” the Taliban government, which came to power in Afghanistan on August 15 following the conquest of Kabul, demands in a statement.
Several members of Afghanistan’s new interim government, which was announced on Tuesday, are blacklisted by the UN Security Council terrorists, many of whom have arrest warrants issued by US security agencies.
Among those on the list is Afghanistan’s new interior minister, Sirajuddin Haqqani, who received a $ 10 million (€ 8.45 million) award from US authorities for information that could make his capture easier.
Sirajuddin Haqqani, 48, is the head of one of the most feared factions in Afghanistan, the Haqqani network founded by his father Jalaluddin Haqqani to fight the Soviet invasion in the 1980s and is behind some of the bloodiest attacks ever on Afghan soil.
The Haqqani network, which the US considers a terrorist organization, joined the Taliban when the Islamic group came to power in 1996.
“Pentagon officials noted that some members of the Islamic Emirate’s cabinet (as the Taliban call themselves) or family members of the late Haqqani are on the US blacklist and continue to be victims,” the statement said.
For the Taliban, “this position is a clear violation of the Doha Agreement, which neither the United States nor Afghanistan benefits from,” the statement said, citing a February 2020 pact signed between Washington and the Taliban to withdraw international troops from the country. Afghanistan.
According to the Taliban, “The Venerable Haqqani’s family is part of the Islamic Emirate and does not have a name or separate organizational structure,” a Taliban spokesman said in a statement.
“Likewise, under the Doha Agreement, all employees of the Islamic Emirate, without exception, (…) were to be removed from the UN and US blacklists, a requirement that remains in effect,” the spokesman said.
A former Afghan government official told EFE on condition of anonymity that about 15 members of the new Taliban cabinet have been blacklisted by the United Nations and the United States.
“They pose a threat not only to the security of Afghanistan, but also to the security of the region and countries around the world,” said the source, who assured that in addition to Sirajuddin Haqqani, his uncle and refugee minister Khalil Haqqani, there is also a new acting prime minister on the list. Minister Mohammad Hasan Akhund.
The appointment of the cabinet of ministers drew criticism from the international community, which called into question not only the presence of radical leaders of the movement, but also the authority granted to persons considered a terrorist threat.
“The Islamic Emirate condemns in the strongest possible terms such provocative statements and attempts by the United States and other countries to interfere in the internal affairs of Afghanistan,” the Taliban government said in a statement.
