International community's call for inclusive govt is just an 'excuse': Taliban

Jan 28, 2022

Kabul [Afghanistan], January 28 : Taliban's acting foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi on Thursday termed the international community's call for the formation of an inclusive government as just an "excuse" and said they do not have any definition for an "inclusive government."
The statement comes after Muttaqi completed its three-day visit to Oslo.
"(The international community) doesn't have a definition for an inclusive government, nor is there an example ... these are just excuses," Tolo News quoted Muttaqi as saying.
Muttaqi insisted that the current government represents all Afghan ethnic groups, and he said that the government's cabinet has yet to be completed.
"As we do not have the officials of the former government in our cabinet, this is the (rule) of the world. After (US President Joe) Biden won the election, did he appoint any officials from the Trump administration?" Muttaqi asked.
"It is not an inclusive government and neither is the cabinet technically prepared," Tolo News quoted Sayed Zakir Shah Sadat, a political analyst as saying.
To recognize the current Afghan government, the international community has called for the formation of an inclusive government and for the respect of the rights of women and minorities, as well as human rights generally.
The humanitarian situation in Afghanistan has deteriorated drastically since the Taliban took control of Kabul in mid-August last year.
A combination of a suspension of foreign aid, the freezing of Afghan government assets, and international sanctions on the Taliban, have plunged the country, already suffering from high poverty levels, into a full-blown economic crisis.