Taliban urges Russia and the USA to compete for the right to build roads and factories in the country: “We do not have evil towards anyone”

Russia, China and the United States should start competing for the right to build infrastructure and industrial factories in Afghanistan, said Mohammad Yaquub Mujahid, the defense minister of the Islamic Emirate, quoted by The Moscow Times.

“Neither the Russians nor the Chinese believe that Afghanistan will act against them on the American orders or that it will allow its territory to be used against them. And Americans do not believe that Russia or China will come and use this territory against them. Let's trade. Let's compete with each other by building dams, roads, factories, Mujahid at a ceremony that marked Afghanistan's Independence Day.

According to him, other countries should also give up their “evil intentions” towards Islamic Emirate, because Kabul does not “nourish evil to anyone” and wants “good relationships with everyone, based on Islamic Sharia.”

Mujahid recalled that Afghanistan has lost its independence several times, but the Ascension of the Taliban represented “a new form of independence”.

Taliban Minister, Warning to Afghan citizens

Mujahid appealed to the country's people to learn a lesson from this “new independence” and to unite to stop “conspiracies and division”. “Anyone who is trying to sow discord, either between the government and the people, or among the people themselves, they must be identified. Only then will we be able to protect ourselves from the conspiracies of foreign enemies or stupid elements within the country,” stressed the Minister of Defense of Taliban.

The Taliban movement returned to power in Afghanistan in August 2021, during the incumbent withdrawal of American troops. In July this year, Russia became the first and only country to officially recognize the Islamic Emirate. Two months before, Moscow took the Taliban from the list of terrorist organizations, which allowed the resumption of economic and diplomatic connections with Afghanistan.

Kabul offered Moscow cooperation in the construction of infrastructure, energy, transport engineering, mining and agriculture. Afghanistan asked Russia to participate in the construction of the Transafgan railway, as well as the repair of roads built by Soviet engineers, including the Salang tunnel, which connects the southern and northern regions of the country.

The Russian government mentioned that the options of economic cooperation with Afghanistan are “in the development stage”.