Taliban Says It Is Seeking to Expand Ties With US and Other Countries
Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban administration’s spokesman, said the administration worked in the year 1447 to expand political, trade, economic, transit and consular relations with a number of countries. He also said the Taliban administration needs diplomatic and economic relations with the United States.
Mujahid said on Saturday at the fifth session of “Government in the Mirror of the Media” in Kabul that the views of countries in the region, outside the region and influential countries about the Taliban administration are changing positively. However, he did not provide further details on which countries or in what areas this change is taking place.
According to the Taliban administration spokesman, Kabul’s foreign policy is not limited to the United States, and the administration wants to establish relations with all countries that do not yet have official ties with Afghanistan. He stressed that these relations should have been established earlier.
In another part of his remarks, Mujahid claimed that the Taliban administration’s acting interior minister carried out more than 46,000 operations in the anti-narcotics sector over the past year. According to him, as a result of these operations, more than 2,000 tonnes of narcotics were discovered and seized.
He also said that during the same period, more than 21,000 hectares of poppy cultivation were destroyed and 533 drug-producing factories were also destroyed. These figures have not been independently verified by separate organizations.
Since returning to power in August 2021, the Taliban administration has sought to expand foreign relations and gain formal recognition from other countries; however, it has so far not been recognised by any country.
