The Taliban’s chief spokesman has firmly rejected Donald Trump’s push to “take back” Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan.
In an exclusive interview with Sky News, Zabihullah Mujahid said: “Afghans will never allow their land to be handed over to anyone under any circumstances.”
But the senior Taliban member said his government had held talks with the US about reopening the Afghan embassy in Washington DC and the US embassy in Kabul.
He said: “We have discussed this matter and we wish to see the embassies reopened both in Kabul and in Washington.”
‘Several countries privately recognise Taliban’
It is four years since the Taliban swept to power and only Russia has formally recognised their government.
But Mr Mujahid denied that they have a “legitimacy problem”, claiming that many countries privately had acknowledged their leadership.
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“It is not only Russia that has openly recognised the Islamic Emirate. There are several other countries that have extended recognition, though not publicly.”
The Taliban government has increasingly placed restrictions on women and girls, and girls over the age of 12 still cannot attend school.
The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for two of the Taliban’s top leaders, including the Supreme Leader, Haibatullah Akhundzada, accusing them of persecuting women and girls in Afghanistan.
‘Can’t promise we will reopen secondary schools for girls’
Mr Mujahid, a close confidante of the Supreme Leader, would not commit to whether girls will ever be able to return to the classroom, though. “I cannot make any promises in this regard,” he stated.
When the Taliban took power, the ministry of education said the closure of schools would be temporary and vowed that they would be reopened once it put in place policies that would ensure compliance with “principles of Islamic law and Afghan culture”.
Four years down the line, however, there is still no plan to open the doors of secondary schools to girls in the foreseeable future or allow young women access to higher education.
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Taliban still can’t explain 48-hour internet shutdown
Recently, Afghanistan was thrust into a 48-hour internet shutdown causing widespread disruption with banks closed, airlines unable to operate and ordinary Afghans prevented from going online or using their phones.
The Taliban’s spokesman said he still was not aware of why the blackout occurred and would not comment on whether the government had ordered it.
“We have not received any official communication from the ministry of telecommunications. Therefore, we are not in a position to comment on the matter,” he said.
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But one service provider in Afghanistan said in a customer email that the shutdown was ordered by the government.
Human rights activists claimed the shutdown was an act of censorship that harmed ordinary Afghans, including the women and girls now reliant on studying online. It followed previous restrictions on access to the internet in certain provinces in Afghanistan – aimed at “preventing immorality”.
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Country has ‘visible signs of recovery’
Afghanistan is in the middle of an economic crisis and has experienced severe droughts.
But in a wide-ranging interview, Zabihullah Mujahid said the country had enjoyed “relative peace and stability under a unified government” with more security and “visible signs of economic recovery”.
But malnutrition has soared in the country, and 90% of children under five are in food poverty, according to UNICEF.
Mr Mujahid said it was the “result of decades of conflict and two major invasions that devastated Afghanistan’s infrastructure and economy”.
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Massive aid cuts have also played a part. But some women in a clinic for malnourished children in Badakhshan in northeastern Afghanistan told Sky News that the government was also in part to blame, as mothers could no longer work and earn money to feed their babies.
Mr Mujahid rejected this as a common sentiment, claiming that “men remain the primary providers” in the “vast majority of households”.
Women are no longer able to train to be doctors or nurses under the Taliban. The UN condemned the policy as “profoundly discriminatory, short-sighted and puts the lives of women and girls at risk in multiple ways”. But the spokesman insisted the country already had “a sufficient number of female doctors”.
It highlights once again the gulf between the Taliban’s policies and the rest of the world. But the leadership are confident that the country has improved under their rule and that they’re building enduring relationships with other nations that will ensure their success.
“We have qualified Islamic scholars who will deliberate on this matter and find an appropriate solution in accordance with Islamic Sharia,” he said.
