Afghan Taliban condemn Iranian FM’s comments terming group’s actions as ‘terrorist acts’ irresponsible

In a statement from Zabihullah Mujahid, Spokesperson of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, the organisation condemned comments made by Dr. Javad Zarif in a recent interview, citing it as "open interference in the internal affairs of Afghanistan".

On Monday, the Iranian Foreign Minister, in an interview with TOLO News stated that "Our definition of the Taliban is that the Taliban has committed many terrorist acts".

However, when pressed on the whether the Taliban is a terrorist organization, Zarif stated that "Before naming the Taliban as terrorists, the Taliban is a group in Afghanistan that has committed terrorist acts and it is necessary now to consider the Taliban as part of a future solution, not (the whole) future solution for Afghanistan".

However, the Foreign Minister articulated that "Regarding recognition of the Taliban as a terrorist group, we have not removed the Taliban [from our list of] terrorist groups, in our laws", a series of statements which have drawn the ire of the Taliban, amidst turbulent peace negotiations.

In their statement, the Islamic Emirate expressed its outrage, and mentioned that "Such irresponsible and misconceived remarks by Iranian officials have the potential of harming relations between two friendly and neighboring countries".

In response to Zarif's classification of the Taliban as a terrorist group, Mujahid stated that "The Islamic Emirate is not in any U.N terror list and comments by Iranian Foreign Minister in this regard are based on faulty information".

The statement concluded with an clear indication of the Taliban leadership's misgivings with Zarif's interview, adding that "We have always sought and continue to seek positive relations with all neighboring countries including Iran and we expect the same from them, therefore we call on them to desist from such remarks in the future so that we are also not forced to respond".