Taliban representatives (the movement is recognized as terrorist and banned in Russia) and the Afghan National Resistance Front (FNS), will be held in Dushanbe with the mediation of Pakistan. This was stated by the President of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon, the press service of the head of state reports.
The Tajik President met with Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, following the meeting, the parties agreed to “direct all efforts” for the earliest possible “elimination of the conflict and tension in the Panjshir province by declaring a ceasefire.”
“We agreed to facilitate negotiations between the Taliban and Tajiks in Dushanbe. Confidence was expressed that only in this way it is possible to ensure peace and stability in Afghanistan, ”Rahmon said. With whom exactly from the rebels the Taliban will negotiate, as well as their date, is not specified.
The Taliban announced that they had occupied the last province of Panjshir, which they did not control, where resistance had been held since mid-August under the leadership of Ahmad Massoud and former Vice President Amrullah Saleh. At the end of August, the Taliban and the FTS made several attempts at negotiations, which ended in failure, and Massoud was presented with an ultimatum to surrender, and on September 6, the Taliban announced that the rebel forces had been defeated, the war in the country was over, as well as the economic blockade of the province. At the same time, Massoud announced that he would continue the now guerrilla war, and called on Afghans to rebel against the Taliban throughout the country. After that, no major battles were reported.
On September 7, the Taliban announced key appointments in the country’s “interim” government, with the Pashtuns occupying most of the posts in it, and only one person each from Tajiks and Uzbeks. But even these people were veterans of the Taliban movement.
Mullah Mohammad Hasan Akhund, one of the associates of the founder of the movement, Mullah Omar, was announced as the head of the government, and Abdul Ghani Baradar, the head of the Taliban’s political office in Qatar, was declared deputy prime minister. Sarajuddin Haqqani, son of the founder of the so-called Taliban-friendly Haqqani network (banned and recognized as a terrorist group), has been declared the new interior minister. Mullah Mohammad Yakub, son of the founder of the Taliban, and since 2020 the de facto leader of military operations against US troops and the allied government of Afghanistan – Minister of Defense. The Foreign Ministry will be headed by Amir Khanu Mottaki. After 2001, he hid in Pakistan for a long time, but in recent years he participated in negotiations with the Americans in Qatar. Not a single UN country recognized the new Taliban “government”.
The Taliban came to power in the country after, at the end of May, US President Joe Biden initiated the final withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan, where they had been for almost 20 years – since October 2001.
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