Taliban dismisses Afghan Govt’s peace overtures ahead of London summit - India News and Travel Times Provides India-centric and other News and Features

The Taliban has rejected the Afghan government’s reconciliatory efforts and policies which would come up for discussions during the London Conference today (Thursday, January 28). In a statement posted on its English website, the Voice of Jihad, the Taliban dismissed the London summit, saying it has no intentions of negotiating with the Afghan government. Describing the Hamid Karzai government as “traffickers of intoxications items, human rights violators and national traitors”, the outlawed terror organisation said that their leader Mullah Omar was fighting to reinstall the ‘Islamic Emirate’ in the country. “It is worth mentioning that the leader of the faithful Mullah Mohammad Omar (May Allah protect him) has clearly said that we want an Islamic rule in our country,” the statement said. It criticised the foreign powers for offering money and safe passage to Taliban fighters who lay down their arms, saying the ‘Mujahideens’ were not fighting for financial gains. “They think that Mujahideen have taken up arms to gain money or grab power or were compelled to turn to arms. This is baseless and futile. Had the aim of the Mujahideen of the Islamic Emirate been obtainment of material goals, they would accept dominance of the invaders in the first place and would have supported them,” the statement added. The Taliban is also unmoved by the UN Security Council’s decision to remove the names of five former Taliban ministers from the ‘blacklist’. The five men who are no longer under sanctions are former Taliban and are part of the Afghan government or living under its protection. The Taliban leaders have time and again made it clear that they don’t represent their movement. Former Taliban Foreign Minister Wakil Ahmad Mutawakil, who has been living in Kabul since 2005 under government protection after being freed from the US military prison, tops the list of the five Taliban who until now were under UN sanctions. Mutawakil had surrendered to the US forces in February 2002.