Iran press/ Asia: In an interview with Iran Press in Kabul on Sunday evening, Zabihullah Mujahid spoke about efforts to form a new government in Afghanistan.
He stated that the Taliban was trying to announce the new government as soon as possible and to include all Afghan groups.
He noted that the Taliban was supposed to rule Afghanistan by establishing a council, adding that no decision had been made yet on a coalition government in Afghanistan, but there were various options.
Elaborating on the Taliban's plans to gain the full trust of the Afghan people, he said: "First, the smear campaign that has been anti-Taliban for the past 20 years must be eliminated."
Second, the Afghan people may have seen differences in Kabul and other cities with the presence of Taliban forces, and the majority of Taliban forces treat the people well.
Explaining the reasons why the Afghan people were fleeing the country, he said: "Two issues are involved; first, the impact of negative anti-Taliban propaganda has frightened people of the Taliban. Secondly, it was American policy that they promised the Afghan people to take them to the United States and Europe, which has created a kind of confusion."
Mujahid also spoke about the Taliban's view of a security pact signed between the United States and Afghanistan under Ashraf Ghani and said: "Such pacts are not in the best interests of the Afghan people, and the United States has been warned not to invade Afghanistan."
He said the war is over now, and when there is no insecurity, it is a good ground for economic growth, and the current problems will be solved soon.
Asked what if the United States and its supporters would not recognize the Taliban government, he said: "The world today is not the world of 20 years ago when what the United States said was done by other countries; today, most governments have good relations with the Taliban."
He expressed hope that the issue of recognizing the Taliban government would be resolved; otherwise, it would not be in the interest of the Taliban or others, and problems would remain.
He stressed that the new government in Afghanistan wants to interact with all countries and establish a positive relationship with the Islamic world in particular.
Mujahid said the Taliban wanted to have fraternal relations with neighbors based on trust who have long borders with Afghanistan, such as Iran, to ensure the common interests as well as the rights of the Afghan people and have economic relations.
Regarding the Taliban's approach to Iran's concerns about growing drug production and the presence of ISIS in Afghanistan, he stressed: "When a new government is established in Afghanistan, Iran's concerns will go away because the Taliban are not in favor of drug production and trade."
"After the US occupation of Afghanistan, drug production in Afghanistan increased, and efforts are underway to diversify people's incomes so that Afghans do not move towards drug production and its production will stop," he said.
He emphasized that ISIS was not Afghan-origin and had entered Afghanistan from outside.
"When an Islamic State is established in the country, the ground for ISIS' activities will be annihilated and the neighbors' concerns will be allayed," he added.
The Taliban spokesperson also spoke about the position of women in the new Afghan government and said: "Women will have a good position in the new political era in Afghanistan and they will be present within the framework of Islamic law wherever needed."
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