KABUL: The Taliban’s chief spokesman has firmly rejected Donald Trump’s push to “take back” Bagram air base in Afghanistan.
In an exclusive interview with Sky News, Zabihullah Mujahid said: “Afghans will never allow their land to be handed over to anyone under any circumstances.”But the senior Taliban member said his government had held talks with the US about reopening the Afghan embassy in Washington DC and the US embassy in Kabul.
He said: “We have discussed this matter and we wish to see the embassies reopened both in Kabul and in Washington.”But Mujahid denied that they have a “legitimacy problem”, claiming that many countries privately had acknowledged their leadership.
“It is not only Russia that has openly recognised the Islamic Emirate. There are several other countries that have extended recognition, though not publicly.”The Taliban government has increasingly placed restrictions on women and girls, and girls over the age of 12 still cannot attend school.
Mujahid, a close confidante of the Supreme Leader, would not commit to whether girls will ever be able to return to the classroom, though. “I cannot make any promises in this regard,” he stated.When the Taliban took power, the ministry of education said the closure of schools would be temporary and vowed that they would be reopened once it put in place policies that would ensure compliance with “principles of Islamic law and Afghan culture”.