The Acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi says that the Islamic Emirate wants good relations with the United States and other countries, adding that US sanctions against the Islamic Emirate is a mistake.
Talking to Associated Press, Muttaqi said: “We have announced that we want to have good relationship with America and the whole world. Some sanctions, which we see against Afghanistan, I think it is the repetition of the same failed experiences, which would not have any benefit.
Pointing to the current humanitarian and economic problems in the country, Muttaqi said instability in Afghanistan is not in the benefit of anyone and that the Islamic Emirate is trying to build an Afghanistan which will be in conflict with no one and will stand on its own feet.
“Making Afghanistan unstable or having a weak Afghan government is not in the interest of anyone, it will not benefit anyone,” he said.
According to Muttaqi, the repeated remarks by some Western officials and some regional countries on the rise of Daesh and Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan are not true.
Muttaqi’s remarks follow the recent remarks by General Frank MacKenzie, commander of US’s Central Command, who warned of the rise of Al Qaeda and ISIS in Afghanistan. “I believe both Al-Qaeda and ISIS are recruiting both internally and I think in fact internationally,” McKenzie said.
Responding to such remarks, Muttaqi said: “If McKenzie has any proof or had any proof, he should provide it. I can confidently say that this is a baseless allegation.”
Muttaqi also said that the Islamic Emirate wants the United States to have good relations with Afghanistan, end the differences and make the distance shorter between Kabul and Washington.
Meanwhile, US Secretary Antony Blinken in a telephone conversation with Qatari Foreign Minister Mohammad bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani discussed the latest development in Afghanistan, the State Department said, and US President Joe Biden, talking to CBS News, defended his decision to withdraw US troops from Afghanistan.
Biden said everyone agreed on the withdrawal, but no one came up with a plan that would allow a swift and easy pullout.
“I have been against that war in Afghanistan from the very beginning. We were spending $300 million dollars a week in Afghanistan over 20 years. Everybody says you could have gotten out without anybody being hurt, no one came up with a way that indicated to me how it happens.”
