Taliban assure international business community of peace in Afghanistan

The Taliban leadership assured on Thursday the international business community of sustainable peace and stability in Afghanistan as the group prepares to formally announce a governance structure in the country.

Speaking to Radio Pakistan, President of the Afghanistan Chamber of Commerce and Industries Muhammad Younas Khan Momand stated that there is a vast scope of enhanced bilateral trade between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Momand highlighted that Pakistan remains the biggest beneficiary of trans-national trade, as the majority of Afghan imports come from Pakistan.

"Afghanistan imports electrical goods, brakes, steel, construction materials, clothes, fruits such as Kinnow and Banana and different food commodities from Pakistan," Momand said, adding that "Afghanistan exports fresh and dry fruits to Pakistan."

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Responding to a question, Momand stated that Prime Minister Imran Khan's decision to set up joint border markets can "change the fate of both countries."

Earlier today, the Taliban leadership criticised the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for saying that that group cannot effectively run a country.

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"The destroying powers, the thinking that builds an empire on the basis of terror, may dominate for some time in a period of time, but its existence is never permanent, it cannot suppress humanity for a long time," Modi had written in a Twitter message a few days ago.

Responding to Modi's statement, a prominent Taliban leader Shahabuddin Dilwar said that "India will soon know that the Taliban can run government affairs smoothly" and told New Delhi to stay away from Afghanistan's internal affairs.

Dilwar, in his statement, termed Pakistan a friendly country and thanked the country's leadership for hosting over three million Afghan refugees.

The Taliban want peaceful ties with all countries based on mutual respect, Dilwar emphasized.