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A Taliban spokesperson confirmed on Tuesday that the extremist group is willing to establish ties with all countries apart from Israel, after naming a provisional government this week.
Spokesman Suhail Shaheen said in an interview with Russia’s Sputnik news that the Taliban would be willing to work with the United States and other countries, but rejected the prospect of any future ties with Israel. “Of course, we won’t have any relation with Israel. We want to have relations with other countries, Israel is not among these countries”, he said.
An interview between Shaheen and Israel’s Kan news channel circulated widely last month, with the spokesperson later tweeting that he didn’t know he had been speaking to an Israeli media outlet.
The Taliban, which seized control of most of Afghanistan last month, has declared the country an “Islamic Emirate”. The acting Prime Minister, Mullah Mohammad Hassan Akhund, is on a UN sanctions list and served in the Taliban’s 1996-2001 regime. Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, a co-founder of the Taliban, has been named as his deputy.
The Hamas terror group previously praised the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan and welcomed the “defeat of the American occupation on all Afghan land”, which it described as a “crowning victory after twenty years of struggle”. The last remaining Jew in Afghanistan, Zebulon Simantov, has now left the country amid growing concerns for his safety.
