Kabul: Afghanistan’s interim foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi, in an interview said that his country does not want conflict with any other country, including India. He added that the Islamic Emirate now controls the entire country and Daesh (IS terror group) has been eliminated from most of Afghanistan. “We do not want Afghanistan to have a conflict with any other country... When we participated in the Moscow conference, the representatives of India, Pakistan and several other countries were also present. We had a positive conversation with New Delhi and others,” Muttaqi responded when asked about relations with India.
Qatar to represent US interests
US secretary of state Antony Blinken said that the Gulf nation of Qatar has agreed to represent American interests in Afghanistan following the closure of the US embassy in Kabul in late August. Blinken said Qatar will serve as the “protecting power” for the US in Taliban-run Afghanistan, a move that suggests the Biden administration has little confidence that it will re-open the embassy in the near future.
Qatar will establish a US interests section within its own embassy in Kabul to provide consular and other services to American citizens in Afghanistan, Blinken said. Qatar will also assume responsibility for the security and protection of now-vacant US diplomatic facilities in the Afghan capital.
Military parade with US-made weapons
Taliban forces held a military parade in Kabul on Sunday using captured American-made armoured vehicles and Russian helicopters in a display that showed their ongoing transformation from an insurgent force to a regular standing army. The Taliban have used the large stock of weapons and equipment left behind when the former Western-backed government collapsed in August to overhaul their forces. The parade was linked to the graduation of 250 freshly trained soldiers, defence ministry spokesman Enayatullah Khwarazmi said.
The exercise involved dozens of US-made M117 armoured security vehicles driving slowly up and down a major Kabul road with MI-17 helicopters patrolling overhead. Many soldiers carried American made-M4 assault rifles. Most of the weapons and equipment the Taliban forces are now using are those supplied by the US to the American-backed government in Kabul in a bid to construct an Afghan national force capable of fighting the Taliban.
