MOSCOW (RIA Novosti): Taliban leader Haybatullah Akhundzad is in Afgha-nistan , but does not appear in public, as he fears a possible attack by American drones, Anas Haqqani, a spokesman for the banned movement’s political office, said on Wednesday.
Earlier, some media reported about the death of Akhundzada during a terrorist attack. “He is alive and is in A-fghanistan. I myself met w-ith him about 10 days ago. But the country’s airspace is not too safe, and American drones appear there,” Haq-qani told reporters when asked about the whereabouts of Akhundzada.
Taliban call for recognition of Afghanistan’s interim government: The Taliban remains committed to a commitment not to take aggressive action against other countries. This was announced to reporters on Wednesday by the head of the Foreign Ministry in the interim Afghan government, Amir Khan Mottaki.
“We have practically proved by our actions that the territory of Afghanistan will not be used against anyone, since we made a commitment in accordance with the Doha Agreement, we remain committed to it,” he said.
He noted that the Taliban government is already inc-lusive. “The government in Afghanistan is now also inclusive,” he said in resp-onse to a related question. “You know about the 50-0,000 employees who work with us, they all work officially.”
“Reforms will follow, there will be new changes in the government. It cannot be said that it is final, as it was said before – this is an interim government. And reforms will be carried out in the future,” he said.
He also noted that the Taliban consider the Mosc-ow format of consultations on Afghanistan very important. “Yes, this is a very important meeting in terms of the security of the entire region and the achievement of common progress,” the deputy chairman said.
“We have good relations with Russia. We discussed various issues, including economic and trade ties. In general, the policy of the new interim government of Afghanistan is to use the country’s geographical pos-ition and turn it into an economic hub that will serve to increase trade between the countries. region, and help the economic integration of Afghanistan, “he told reporters.
The Russian side, as well as the format of the expanded “troika” (RF, USA, China, Pakistan) can play an important role in the fate of Afghanistan and ensuring the security of the region, Hanafi said.
“The [extended] troika is a very important format for ensuring the security of the entire region. It is a platform for expressing points of view, as well as [seekin-g] a common position am-ong regional states,” he sa-id. “Russia, as a strong re-gional player, can play a p-ositive role for Afgha-nistan.”
“We do not need military assistance. We need support for peace in Afghanistan, in the reconstruction of Afghanistan,” he said.
Meanwhile, he once ag-ain called on the US to un-freeze the reserves of the Central Bank of Afghani-stan, that is, about $ 9.4 billion. “This is the wealth of all Afghans, and our suffering people should not pay f-or political differences. Pu-tting pressure on us, as previous events have shown, cannot bring any result,” Hanafi summed up.
