Afghanistan, Taliban insist: “Withdrawal August 31 or it will be violation”

The Taliban insist. “The occupation” of Afghanistan “must end” and a possible extension of the deadline of 31 August would be a “clear violation”, which if announced would bring the leaders of the movement – which has always called for the withdrawal of all forces foreigners from Afghanistan – to decide “how to proceed and what to do”. To reiterate this, a few hours before the G7 summit, was a Taliban spokesman, Suhail Shaheen, in a new interview with the CGTN, after the one of recent days on the European channel of Chinese TV. For Shaheen, interviewed by the broadcaster in the past few hours after yesterday’s statements to Sky News, a postponement regarding the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan would mean a “disruption” of the “reconstruction plans for Afghanistan”. Read also The United States “can participate in the reconstruction of Afghanistan” after it “has been involved in its destruction,” said Shaheen. “If they want – he said – they can participate in the reconstruction of Afghanistan and can cooperate with the country, with its people, in a new chapter, in a new phase”. Then he stressed that sanctions against the Taliban “would go against the population. Afghans “and the Afghans” have fought against the occupation for 20 years “. “We have entered a new phase, a phase of peace, of peaceful coexistence, of unity of the citizens of Afghanistan”, he insisted, affirming that the country needs “a lot of cooperation and financial support” in this “critical” moment. Sanctions against the Taliban could be “counterproductive” according to China. According to Chinese diplomacy, reports the Global Times, the international community “should help” Afghanistan for a “peaceful” reconstruction, strengthen its “independent development capacity” and the decision to impose sanctions “would solve nothing, but it could be counterproductive “. Meanwhile, a source close to the Taliban leaders revealed to the Russian agency ‘Sputnik’ that Afghanistan will be headed by a Council of 12 members, of which seven have already been agreed. According to the source, the seven would include the former president, Hamid Karzai, the head of the High Council for National Reconciliation, Abdullah Abdullah and one of the co-founders of the Taliban, Abdul Ghani Baradar. “Afghanistan would be governed by a council. of 12 members “, explained the source, adding that an agreement would also be found on the son of Mullah Omar, Mullah Yaqub, on Khalil-ur-Rehman Haqqani, on the former Minister of the Interior Hanif Atmar and on the former lord of the Gulbuddin Hekmatyar war. The source said talks are underway to decide the remaining five Council members.