Afghan diplomat claims Taliban granted passports to Al-Qaeda & IS; calls it 'red signal'

In a massive revelation, Afghan Ambassador to Tajikistan Muhammad Zahir Aghbar on Tuesday said the Taliban are granting passports to members of Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State. Aghbar added that it was a 'red signal' for the world that terrorists and terrorism was being 'legalised'.

'Taliban not recognized in the world'

Underlining that nobody recognizes the Taliban, the Afghan Ambassador to Tajikistan said, "They did not even sit down at the negotiating table at the recent conference of Islamic countries in Pakistan, and the flag was not of the Taliban, but ours - the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan."

"They have not paid their military personnel for several months. Disagreements have emerged among the Taliban ... and women ... hold protests against this regime almost every day," the ambassador further said, backing his claim that the Taliban government was not all that successful in managing Afghanistan. He added that Taliban leadership has not yet brought their families back to Afghanistan, who are in Dubai, Qatar and Pakistan.

Taliban takes over power in Afghanistan, forms 'inclusive' government 

As US troops retreated after 20 years from war-torn Afghanistan, the Taliban had launched an offensive taking over cities like Kandahar, Herat, and Lashkar Gah, gradually encircling the government in Kabul. The Taliban then issued a statement saying that they have no plans to take the Afghan capital by force, following which the Afghan government, via its interim Interior Minister, said that there would be no fighting and that a peaceful transfer of power was being worked out, confirming that the government had surrendered. 

Under the pressure of the international community, the Taliban promised to form an inclusive government and even held discussions and deliberations for the same. However, to everyone's disappointment, the Taliban on September 7 announced an all-male interim government for Afghanistan stacked with veterans of their hard-line rule from the 1990s and the 20-year battle against the US-led coalition.

At the top position of that of the Prime Minister stands Mullah Mohammad Hasan Akhund, the chief of the Taliban's Rehbari Shura. Mullah Mohammad Hasan Akhund has two deputies in Mullah Baradar and Mawlavi Hanafi. The post of Interior Minister is taken by Sirajuddin Haqqani, who is the head of the feared Haqqani network that is blamed for many deadly attacks and kidnappings. He is on the FBI’s most-wanted list with a $5 million bounty on his head. 

(Image: ANI)