At a religious scholars' gathering in Kabul, the Taliban's Foreign Minister used sarcasm to address countries supporting an all-inclusive government in Afghanistan.
During his address, Amir Khan Muttaqi highlighted the contrast between the number of prisoners held by the Taliban and the reported executions carried out by other countries.
"Our prisons do not have as many inmates as you execute," stated Muttaqi, addressing the countries advocating for the formation of an all-inclusive government. He did not mention any specific nations but many presume his sarcastic remarks were aimed, in part, at the Islamic Republic of Iran, often accused of making opponents disappear and executing them. "In your country, thousands have disappeared, yet nobody dares to ask about it,” Muttaqi said, avoiding directly calling out any one country.
The Taliban's Foreign Minister's remarks come after the international community has consistently called on the Taliban to adopt an inclusive approach in forming a government.
"Do you have an inclusive government?" questioned Muttaqi, his words laced with irony and deliberately undermining the credibility of the governments supporting this initiative.
The Taliban considers the formation of their own system as an internal matter and Mottaqi reiterated the group's stance against external interference.
The international community has also consistently called on the Taliban to adopt an inclusive approach in forming a government. In the past months, tensions between Tehran and Kabul have escalated, resulting in a series of incidents that have strained relations.
One of the deadliest incidents involved a border clash, resulting in the deaths of two Iranian soldiers and one Taliban fighter. The incident followed Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi's warning to the Taliban regarding Iran's water rights under the 1973 treaty. The Taliban responded with defiance, and a former Taliban official's viral video mocked President Raisi's stance.