Trump Is Firm & Courageous, Want To Be His Friend, Says Taliban's Deputy Foreign Minister
Abbas Stanekzai, the Taliban's deputy foreign minister, on Saturday praised US President-elect Donald Trump as a "decisive and courageous" person.
Abbas Stanekzai, the Taliban's deputy foreign minister, on Saturday praised US President-elect Donald Trump as a "decisive and courageous" person.
Stanekzai called on Trump to reopen the US embassy in Kabul and abide by the Doha agreement.
Stanekzai said on Saturday, January 4, at the graduation ceremony of 500 students of religious schools held at the Loya Jirga tent in Kabul, "The enemy does not always remain the enemy."
"We fought the Soviets in the past and they destroyed millions of people, but now we have good relations with Russia," he added.
Stanekzai also said, "We also fought with the United States for 20 years, but now we want to establish good relations with this country."
The Taliban official stressed that the Taliban's friendship with the United States is conditional on the United States adhering to the Doha Agreement and refraining from interfering in Afghanistan's internal affairs.
Stanekzai stressed on the need to lift Western sanctions against Afghanistan and called for the release of blocked financial resources and the removal of the names of Taliban officials from the blacklist.
He also called on the United States to reopen its embassy in Afghanistan.
In another part of his speech, the Taliban's deputy foreign minister criticised the way of governance in Islamic countries, saying, "In Egypt, Islamic movements have been fighting for 90 years, but they have not yet been able to build a Sharia system and an Islamic government. We also see our neighbours, in the East and West, that they have fought in the name of Islam for decades, but they have not been able to build a system like us."
