US Special Representative for Afghanistan, Thomas West, in a special interview with TOLOnews, said that no decision has been made regarding the recognition of the Islamic Emirate by the United States.
He said the US wants to see a representative government formed in Afghanistan and the commitments made to the international community upheld.
“We haven’t made a decision on recognition. I think a lot of countries haven’t. We want to see the establishment of a responsible record of conduct when it comes to treatment of Afghans. We want to see this practice of the detaining of women–and in particular detaining of women protesters–we want to see that end resolutely. And those are ongoing areas of conversation,” he said.
West said the US is concerned about the possible increase in Daesh and Al-Qaida activity in Afghanistan, and stressed that Daesh is the shared enemy of Kabul and Washington, and the US wants the Islamic Emirate to succeed in suppressing Daesh.
“We definitely have concerns about the nature of the Taliban’s campaign against ISIS, but we want to see that succeed. We don’t want to see any ISIS-K in Afghanistan. We will see when the weather, I think, continues to warm up. But we don’t want to see any of those attacks,” he added.
The Islamic Emirate, meanwhile, said they will not allow any group to threaten any country from Afghan soil. Abdul Salam Hanafi, Deputy Prime Minister, speaking at a ceremony in Kabul marking the second anniversary of the signing of the Doha Agreement on Tuesday, said the Islamic Emirate in that agreement committed to not allow Afghan soil to be used against any country.
“In the Doha Agreement we made that promise and we are upholding our commitment,” Hanafi said.
West also raised concerns about the humanitarian situation in Afghanistan and said the war in Ukraine is likely to divert the world’s attention from Afghanistan.
