Taliban Minister Says Group Not Yet Self-Sufficient to Defend Afghanistan
Latifullah Mansoor, acting minister for rural rehabilitation and development in the Taliban administration, says the spilling of Pakistani blood is unjust and that the Taliban administration has not yet achieved full self-sufficiency to defend Afghanistan. He said on Sunday, Oct. 4, at the inauguration ceremony of a transit road between Badakhshan and Xinjiang, China, that emotions should not lead to the killing of more Muslims.
Mansoor said some people call for action in response to Pakistan’s daily attacks, but according to him, the Taliban administration must make the system self-sufficient enough to defend Afghans and confront anyone causing harm inside their own country. He added that the Taliban administration is not fully self-sufficient at present and that both Afghan vengeance must be taken and the spilling of blood and the killing of innocent people must be prevented.
He also warned that anyone who stands against the Taliban administration and looks to foreign dollars will be neutralized.
Tensions between the Taliban administration and Pakistan have risen in recent weeks. In less than the past two weeks, Pakistan has carried out at least three airstrikes targeting positions inside Afghanistan, and the Taliban administration has said it will respond appropriately to these attacks; however, there have been no reports so far of a reciprocal military response from the administration.
Meanwhile, Ammar Yasser, head of project coordination at the Taliban administration’s General Directorate of Affairs, criticized the Taliban leadership’s reaction to Pakistan’s attacks in a post on X, writing that neither the administration’s voice nor the people’s voice is being heard.
