Ready to send troops to India for training, wants normal defense relations, says Taliban Defense Minister Mullah Yaqub
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Taliban Defense Minister Mullah Yaqub said he had no problem resuming defense ties with India, but stressed that diplomatic relations between the two governments should be restored first.
"If relations between the two governments return to normal, the Taliban are ready to send Afghan security forces to India for training," he told Indian TV CNN News-18.
Mullah Yaqub also demanded that the Indian government reopen its closed embassy in Kabul and allow the Taliban ambassador to take over the Afghan embassy in New Delhi.
''The Taliban are ready to provide any kind of security guarantee if India sends its diplomatic staff back to Afghanistan,'' The defense minister has said .
Earlier, Taliban spokesman Sohail Shaheen had said this in Doha.
In an interview with CNN News 18, Mullah Yaqub reiterated that the Taliban government wants good relations with all countries of the world, including India.
Technical training has been provided even before the Taliban but the training of formal security forces is more.
For the first time, India has formally sent a Taliban delegation to Afghanistan to look into humanitarian aid, but India has also been interested in Afghanistan.
Earlier, he had met Taliban leaders in Doha and recently Indian National Security Adviser Ajit Doval was in Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan, and said that India has a special relationship with Afghanistan and will continue to do so.
The meeting on regional security was held in Dushanbe and was attended by heads of state security advisers from India, China, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.
According to a report in the Hindustan Times, Dowell said, “The centuries-old special relationship with the people of Afghanistan will guide India's vision. Nothing can change that. "
In an interview with CNN News 18, Mullah Yaqub thanked India for providing humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan over the past few months.
According to a press release issued by the Indian Ministry of External Affairs, a delegation led by Joint Secretary JP Singh has arrived in Kabul to meet representatives of international organizations involved in the distribution of relief goods.
The June 2 press note said India has so far shipped 20,000 metric tonnes of wheat, 13 tonnes of medicines, 500,000 doses of cod vaccine and winter clothes. These items have been handed over to Indira Gandhi Children's Hospital in Kabul and WHO and WFP.
Hindustan Times as saying that India has allocated Rs 200 crore or more than US 25 million for Afghanistan in its 2012-13 budget.
Former Indian Ambassador to Kabul Vivek Katju, who served in Kabul from 2002 to 2005, described the visit to India as a "wise step" and said: ''I hope that this will pave the way for a permanent Indian presence in Kabul at an appropriate level. "
It is noteworthy that after the Taliban took control of Afghanistan, like many other countries in the world, India also closed its embassy in Kabul and did not have diplomatic relations with the Taliban.
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We are not in competition with India and Pakistan.
In this interview given to Indian TV, Mullah Yaqub also spoke briefly about the trilateral relations between Afghanistan, Pakistan and India and security in the region.
He emphasized that the Taliban government would not allow Pakistan or India to use Afghan territory against each other and hoped that the two countries would resolve their differences through dialogue and negotiation. ۔
The Taliban's defense minister has said he has no ties to al-Qaeda and that the so-called Islamic State militant group in Afghanistan has been crushed.
Asked about Pakistan and Durand Line, he said that they have good relations with Pakistan and if any incident happens on Durand Line from time to time, it should not be taken too seriously.
Mullah Yaqub also called on the United States not to create problems for the Taliban government in Afghanistan and to establish diplomatic relations with it.
However, India is concerned about the influence of Pakistani intelligence and extremist groups in the ranks of the Taliban and does not want the use of Afghan territory against India.
But the Taliban insist they will not allow any country or group in the world to use Afghan territory against any other country.
The Taliban's defense minister made the remarks as India's top foreign secretary, GP Singh, led a delegation to Kabul to meet with Taliban foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi.
The Taliban's foreign ministry said in a statement that Indian officials had told them "they want good relations with Afghanistan as before and will continue their assistance."
Foreign Minister Amir Khan Mottaki said India should "resume its stalled projects in Afghanistan, restore its diplomatic presence and provide consular services to Afghans, especially Afghan students and patients."
Deccan Herald newspaper has written that India has finally given up its hesitation to meet directly with the Malaysian government in Afghanistan.
Kerala Komodi, a leading Malayalam-language newspaper, wrote that "since the Taliban came to power, Pakistan's intelligence agency has been planning to end India's intervention in Afghanistan." However, the Indian team's tour of Afghanistan has dealt a severe blow to its plans.
India's foreign ministry spokesman Arundam Bagchi said the media did not need to read much about the visit.
Earlier, Sohail Shaheen, a spokesman for the Taliban's political office in Doha, in an interview with The Print News site, urged India to establish relations with the Taliban government in Kabul in the national and mutual interest. And sever all ties with Ashraf Ghani's former government.