Speaking at a meeting on Thursday in the eastern Paktia province, the Taliban minister of Refugees and Repatriation, Khalil-al-Rahman Haqqani, accused Russia, the United States, and NATO member countries of involvement in overthrowing the previous Afghan governments.
Haqqani further called on these countries to pay compensation for the financial and human losses incurred during their attacks in Afghanistan. Their attacks, Haqqani claimed, created several decades of war in which they used various weapons in Afghanistan.
He accused these countries of interfering in Afghanistan’s internal affairs and imposing sanctions.
“Some countries have once again started efforts to implement their sinister goals in Afghanistan,” the Taliban minister asserted about the status quo in the country which is now controlled by the group itself.
Taliban leaders were among Mujahideen commanders who toppled the Soviet-backed Democratic Republic of Afghanistan under President Najibullah in April 1992 and installed the Islamic State of Afghanistan.
In September 1996, the Taliban captured Kabul for the first time and overthrew the Islamic State of Afghanistan then being led by Burhanuddin Rabbani.
In 2001, the United States invaded Afghanistan and toppled the Taliban regime while being supported on the ground by Mujahideen fighters of the Northern Alliance.
Almost two decades later, the Taliban again toppled the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan under former President Ashraf Ghani in August 2021 and resumed its rule all over the country.
No country has so far recognized the Taliban’s rule officially as a government but some regional countries have established close diplomatic ties with the group.
Haqqani described Taliban’s current government as powerful while urging for compensation.
