The Taliban on Friday warned the United States against sending more Western troops to Afghanistan, while pledging that it sought only independence under Islamic rule and rejecting concerns it would harbour foreign militants.
In a statement marking Eid al-Fitr, the festival at the end of the holy month of Ramadan, Taliban leader Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada, combined defiant calls for the U.S. to get out of Afghanistan with more conciliatory messages.
“The occupation is the main obstacle in the way of peace,” he said, in comments which echoed similar messages the movement has sent in the past.
While not explicitly acknowledging the recent debate in Washington over U.S. policy in Afghanistan, the message appeared to address several of the arguments made for maintaining or boosting support for the Western-backed government in Kabul.
In particular, it rejected the concerns that Afghanistan could once again become a haven for foreign militants seeking to attack the U.S. and its allies as al Qaeda did when it struck the Twin Towers in 2001.
Calling for complete independence of the country and establishment of an Islamic system, Akhundzada warned against plans under consideration to increase the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan by up to 3,000 to 5,000.
“The more they insist on maintaining the presence of their forces here or want a surge of their forces, the more regional sensitivity against them will intensify,” he said.
“I also promise constructive and good relations with you and the world once your illegitimate occupation of Afghanistan comes to an end,’’ Akhundzada said.
He dismissed widespread accusations that the Taliban benefited from aid from other countries including Pakistan.
More recently, Russia, said that it would “not allow anyone else to intervene in Afghanistan.”
“Likewise, we don’t permit others to use the soil of Afghanistan against anyone,” he said.
Akhundzada urged the U.S. to accept the “legitimate” demands of the Afghan people.
He called for peace through diplomatic means but appeared to offer no concession on the Taliban’s central demand that foreign forces must leave before peace talks begin.
“The solution of the Afghan issue through peaceful means is part and parcel of the policy of the Islamic Emirate, should the occupation come to an end,” he said.
The Taliban leader had words for the government of President Ashraf Ghani, which it dismissed as a “stooge” of America and blamed him for rising ethnic and factional tensions in Kabul and elsewhere.
He urged Taliban fighters to avoid civilian casualties, a call likely to be dismissed by the government and its allies following Thursday’s attack on a bank in Helmand that killed at least 34 people.
Another deadly truck bomb in Kabul killed at least 150 civilians in May.
Although the Taliban have denied responsibility for the Kabul attack, Afghanistan’s main intelligence agency said it was planned and carried out by the Taliban-affiliated Haqqani network.
