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Taliban has no plans for governance: Mansoor
Abdul Hafiz Mansoor, a member of government’s negotiating team, said on Saturday the Taliban has no plan in place to govern, but their “power-hungry and narrow-minded spirit has not changed.”
Speaking at a roundtable discussion on the first round of peace talks and its future prospects Mansoor said the Taliban are eager to rule but have no operational plans to govern.
The discussion was organized by the Afghan Institute for Strategic Studies (AISS).
Mansoor, and Hossain Ramouz, a university lecturer, were speakers at the session.
Mansoor said “we have to move towards an interim government while maintaining the current” system adding that preserving the current achievements and values of the past 20 years is a must.
“By preserving the framework of the system and human values, we have to move towards an interim government, and the structure of this government must be a Chancellery,” Mansoor said.
According to him, Taliban are not a political group, but they want power.
“The mentality of the Taliban has not changed at all, the Taliban still has a militaristic sense and thinks they can achieve power through war.”
Ramouz said that the version of Sharia introduced by the Taliban would not be a good development model.
“The Taliban must abandon totalitarianism, because it is not possible, and both negotiators must agree to merge the republic and the Emirate, but we need to first have a clear definition of the Taliban’s Emirate,” Ramouz said.
Meanwhile, referring to the challenges the negotiating team faced in the peace talks with Taliban Mansoor said: “The Taliban does not accept anything called a republic or a government. The Taliban want to launch a religious game (Shia and Sunni).”
Mansoor also said that the Taliban think the women in the government’s negotiating team are only symbolic.
“Issues about women cannot be just on paper, women must be at the table. The Taliban think the women in the government’s negotiating team are symbolic, but they [women] have shown that they are taking strong steps to defend their rights and humanity,” Mansoor said.
Mansoor also said that the Taliban are not a religious movement nor can they justify their war.
“The Taliban is not a religious movement because they [Taliban] are not ready for a religious debate in any area, and their war has no religious justification and is not defendable,” Mansoor added.
He also raised concerns over differences of opinion between the government and the High Council of National Reconciliation.
“There are differences of opinion between the government and the High Council of National Reconciliation that need to be addressed as soon as possible.”
Mansoor also blamed the Taliban for the recent attacks on journalists.
“There is no doubt that the Taliban are involved in the recent killing and assassination of journalists,” Mansoor added.
Bismillah Adil, a Ghor journalist, was gunned down in a targeted attack on Friday.
Adil’s death is the latest in a string of targeted killings of media workers, civil society activists, and civil servants who have been systematically killed over the past few months.
In just two months, five journalists have been killed in the country in what is perceived as a ploy to silence the free media in the country.
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Khalilzad warns Pakistan-Afghanistan tensions likely to worsen after fresh airstrikes
Former U.S. special representative for Afghanistan reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad has warned that the latest Pakistani airstrikes in Afghanistan and recent violence inside Pakistan are part of a wider crisis, saying he sees no indication that the situation is about to change.
In a post on X on Thursday, Khalilzad described the Pakistani airstrikes that have killed Afghan civilians and the increasing use of force against civilians in Pakistan as “interconnected tragedies,” implying both effected by Pakistan’s establishment.
“Unfortunately, I do not see any signs of change,” Khalilzad said, adding that current indicators suggested the use of force against Pakistanis would “likely get worse” in the coming days.
His comments came after Pakistan carried out a new wave of airstrikes inside Afghanistan overnight Thursday, saying it had targeted 10 locations used to launch and store drones.
Pakistani Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said the strikes were conducted in response to drones launched from Afghan territory a day earlier and described them as “deliberate, precise, calibrated and proportionate.”
Afghan officials said the strikes killed four civilians. The attacks reportedly hit locations including Kandahar, Khost and Paktia provinces. Afghanistan’s Islamic Emirate authorities have denied launching the drones cited by Pakistan and have condemned the strikes.
The latest attacks follow Pakistani airstrikes earlier this week in Kunar and Paktika. Pakistan said those operations killed 28 militants, while the United Nations confirmed that three Afghan civilians — a man, a woman and a girl — were killed, with four others injured.
The renewed airstrikes come amid a sharp deterioration in relations between Kabul and Islamabad. Pakistan has accused Afghanistan of allowing militant groups, including the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), to operate from its territory and launch attacks inside Pakistan.
Afghan authorities reject the allegations and say militancy inside Pakistan is an internal issue.
Khalilzad has previously called for a change in Pakistan’s strategy toward both its internal security problems and Afghanistan.
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Afghanistan summons Pakistani chargé d’affaires over latest airstrikes
Afghanistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned Pakistan’s chargé d’affaires to Kabul and lodged a strong protest against the violation of Afghan airspace and Pakistani military airstrikes on several Afghan provinces.
The ministry handed the Pakistani diplomat a formal protest note following the attacks on Kandahar, Paktia and Khost provinces on Wednesday night, which reportedly caused civilian casualties.
The Islamic Emirate strongly condemned the strikes, calling them a violation of Afghanistan’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and contrary to Islamic, international, humanitarian and good-neighborly principles.
The ministry also rejected what it called baseless claims that Afghan territory was being used as a source of Pakistan’s recent security incidents.
It said using such claims to justify military action was an attempt to distort facts, mislead public opinion and conceal Pakistan’s internal failures.
The Islamic Emirate further accused Pakistan’s military leadership of avoiding commitments made to regional countries and warned that such actions could further escalate tensions in the region.
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Museum dedicated to preserving ‘Jihadi’ artefacts opens in Kandahar
The museum’s collection includes more than 100 items gathered from different locations.
A museum dedicated to preserving what Afghan authorities describe as “Jihadi artefacts” has officially opened in Kandahar, with officials saying more than 100 items have so far been collected for display.
Mufti Mohammad Tahir Ahmad, Director General for the Preservation of Jihadi Artefacts at the Ministry of Information and Culture, attended the inauguration ceremony alongside Qari Ahmadullah Saeed Khosti, Director of Registration for Jihadi Artefacts and Documents.
Mufti Inamullah Samangani, head of the Kandahar Information and Culture Department, and officials from several government departments also attended the ceremony.
According to the official responsible for preserving the artefacts in Kandahar, the museum’s collection includes more than 100 items gathered from different locations.
The collection includes weapons that officials say were captured from British, Soviet and US forces, as well as personal belongings and other items associated with people killed during Afghanistan’s conflicts over the past two decades.
Officials said efforts to collect additional artefacts would continue in order to expand the museum’s collection.
The museum is now open to visitors, according to the officials.
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