RIYADH: A senior Taliban leader admitted that his country is facing severe economic hardship due to harsh sanctions and lack of recognition by the international community.

Speaking to Katie Jensen on the latest episode of Arab News’ Speaking Frankly, Sohail Shaheen said the Taliban inherited a weak economy and a very poor Afghanistan when they seized power in Kabul in August 2021.

He said, “The poverty we live in today is inherited from the past, from a regime that lasted 20 years, during which foreign forces were present in Afghanistan.”

Shaheen said that despite claims that the “occupying powers” spent billions of dollars in the country, these dollars went into the private pockets of the warlords. The general population continued to live below the poverty line.”

He claimed that this situation worsened with the imposition of economic sanctions on Afghanistan after the Taliban took control of the country, as the restrictions led to further poverty.

Shaheen took no responsibility for the deterioration of conditions in Afghanistan since the Taliban took over, instead blaming Western powers—”those who imposed sanctions and those who favored warlords”—for the economic crisis.

“We are working on addressing these issues and there are some big projects like building roads that generate internal revenues,” he said.

Shaheen seemed noncommittal and evasive as she spoke about the restrictions on women’s education. At times his statements were full of contradictions and he was on the defensive.

At first, he said that there was no prohibition on studying women. But when faced with indisputable facts about women being denied access to schools and institutions of higher learning, he tried to justify the closure, saying, “But (education) should be according to our rules and values.”

Reminding that all Islamic and Muslim countries around the world provide full educational opportunities for women in schools, colleges and universities, Shaheen replied: “Women should get education in an Islamic environment. Our society is an Islamic society (and when there is) a suitable environment, they will have the right to get an education.”

He described the country’s political relations with its neighbors as based on mutual respect, and spoke at length about the recent border clashes between Afghan and Iranian forces, as well as the country’s tense relationship with Pakistan and its developing relations with the United States under the Biden administration. .

He argued that the UN needs to look at the situation on the ground, claiming that the decision of the UN and many countries not to recognize the Taliban is “politically motivated and not based on facts on the ground”.

Shaheen insisted that the Taliban currently have complete control over all of Afghanistan. We have secured all borders. We control the entire country. We are able to defend our people and our country. “We have the support of the people,” he said.

Shaheen touched on Pakistan’s relations with its neighbor under the rule of the Taliban, stressing that Afghanistan is an independent country, adding: “We liberated our country. We fought for 20 years against 54 countries.

“We are freedom-loving people. We want peaceful coexistence and relations not only with our neighbors, but with the whole world.

He said the Taliban would not allow anyone to use Afghan soil as a base for operations against neighboring countries or any other country, including the United States.

Shaheen sought to make it clear that the Taliban had nothing to do with the Pakistani security forces. “Our policy is peaceful coexistence and positive relations with neighbors in other countries,” he said. “As far as their policies are concerned, you should ask them.”

When the Americans occupied our country, we fought them to liberate our country. If someone’s country was occupied, wouldn’t you fight for its liberation?

Suhail Shaheen

In response to Pakistan’s accusation—a major source of contention between the two neighbors—that the Taliban supports and hosts the TTP, a banned terrorist group in Pakistan, Shaheen said the TTP “is not in Afghanistan.”

He claimed that the TTP is operating out of Pakistan’s lawless tribal areas, saying, “They are inside Pakistan. This is their (Pakistan’s) responsibility, not ours.”

Regarding the border clashes with Iran in May this year, Shaheen said that the roots of the problem go back to the 1973 water-sharing treaty between the two countries, referring to an agreement under which Afghanistan is obligated to specifically share water from the Helmand River with Iran. an average.

According to Shaheen, the issue must be resolved based on the 1973 treaty, as well as developments, including climate change, that have occurred since it was signed.

But if anyone uses force, we know history and we will stand up for our people. This is our right. We defend. “We do not violate anyone’s rights,” he said.

Insisting that the Iranians “attacked our forces,” he said, “Our forces must defend themselves and this is what happened. Defending ourselves was our right and no one could impose agreements on us based on the use of force.”

He said that “elders” from the Iranian and Afghan sides “meet to solve the issue through talks.”

Asked if the Afghans had the means, the army and the determination to confront Iran, Shaheen made a telling comment: “(What happened in the past 20 years is a good proof and proof of how we can defend our country).”

And when he said Afghan soil would not be used to train foreign terrorists, he was reminded of the presence of al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, who was in Kabul when he was killed in a US drone strike in July last year. However, Shaheen denied it as a mere allegation.

He said, “If the journalists say there are training centers, they should tell us where they are.” If someone is sitting 10,000 kilometers behind a desk and writing reports based solely on what is in the media, how can that reflect the realities in Afghanistan?

“These reports are not based on facts in Afghanistan. Instead, they are only politically motivated reports. They are just allegations.”

The Taliban recently welcomed comments made by US President Joe Biden on the sidelines of a press conference on June 30 about the withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan in 2021. Biden denied making mistakes during the withdrawal, saying: “Do you remember what I said about Afghanistan? “Be there. I said there won’t be. I said we’ll get help from the Taliban. What’s going on now? What’s going on here? Read your press. I was right.”

However, Shaheen rejected the idea of ​​the Taliban cooperating with the United States. We have the Doha agreement. Based on this agreement, the Americans agreed to withdraw their forces from Afghanistan, and we agreed not to allow anyone to use Afghanistan against the United States.

“This is our commitment and we honor that commitment. We work independently, not with any government — neighboring or regional governments or those anywhere in the world — including the United States.”

However, Shaheen noted that the Taliban’s relationship with the United States has changed since the “occupation”.

When they occupied our country, we fought them to liberate our country. If someone’s country was occupied, wouldn’t you fight for its liberation? He said.

This is what we did, and now we are building our country. We aim to eradicate poverty and provide job opportunities for our people. So we need cooperation from all countries, and if they want to, we welcome them.”

Shaheen appealed to the international community to rescue Afghan farmers who have given up poppy cultivation.

“In the past 20 years, they (foreign forces) spent billions of dollars to eradicate poppy cultivation, but they failed. They were also trying to prevent drug trafficking, but they failed.

Now we have a complete ban on poppy cultivation according to the decree (April 2022) of our Supreme Leader (Hebatullah Akhundzada). And we succeeded. Independent reports say poppy cultivation is down 80 percent, but we’d say it’s down even more than that. We have achieved this in our own ways and means.”

A report published last month by geospatial analytics firm Alcis said recent satellite imagery showed an “unprecedented” decline in opium poppy cultivation in Afghanistan, with cultivation in the most productive southern provinces down at least 80 percent compared to last year.

“It is now the duty of the international community to step forward and help (Afghan) farmers and provide them with alternative crops in order to make the ban sustainable,” Shaheen said.

“In Afghanistan, farmers have two or three acres of land, which is not enough to feed their families. There must be something from the international community for those farmers who are abiding by the ban and who have stopped growing poppies.”