KABUL: Taliban Spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said, in an interview with China Global Television Network (CGTN) published on Friday, that the US must compensate for its atrocities against Afghans.
The U.S. said on October 14 that it has offered to pay unspecified compensation to relatives of 10 people in Afghanistan, including seven children, who were killed by mistake in a U.S. drone strike as American forces were completing their withdrawal from the country.
“There is no point in all this. It is not the first time America has brutally killed the Afghan people. America has been doing this for the last 20 years. This is American bigotry, and the true face of America has been exposed in front of our people and the world,” Mujahid said.
“We condemn such acts of America, and it is important that wherever America has committed such atrocities against the Afghans, it should compensate,” he stressed.
Russia hosted talks on Afghanistan on Wednesday involving senior representatives of the Taliban and other factions. Speaking of the talks, Mujahid said “Russia organized a meeting to show the Taliban’s pursuit for international recognition.”
“Russia wants peace in Afghanistan, and whatever reservations Russia has should be cleared. We participated in this conference, so that the world would accept us, and our important issues could be discussed with the world”, Mujahid also said, adding, “Educational institutions are open in many provinces from grade one to grade six, while in Mazar, Balkh and Kandahar the education system is formally open till grade 12”.
“In the rest of the provinces our plan needs to be implemented, because there are some problems in those provinces. We are working on a major plan and mechanism for the education of women, and as soon as it’s ready, the education system will formally begin,” he noted.
Mujahid also denied rumors that the Taliban’s supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada died two years ago. “He’s alive and absolutely well, he’s in Kandahar, he is leading us,” he said. Mujahid added the supreme leader will appear in the days to come and the world will be able to see and hear him.
In an earlier interview with CGTN, published on September 6, Zabihullah Mujahid said that since the Taliban entered Kabul, people’s lives have gradually returned to normal, most banks have resumed operations, and the currency exchange market has also reopened.
He also said that over 20 years of foreign military occupation has brought suffering and disaster to the Afghans. He emphasized that the occupation of any foreign army was to achieve their own goals and will never bring happiness to the people of the occupied country. The existence of foreign troops makes the security environment in Afghanistan extremely deteriorated, and violence and attacks are endless. The Taliban are currently formulating plans for national reconstruction, making efforts to maintain national security.
Earlier on Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Russia was moving towards withdrawing the Taliban from its list of extremist organizations, it comes a day after high-level talks between Moscow and Afghanistan’s new government.
–The Daily Mail-CGTN news exchange item
