Taliban delegation visits Japan in rare trip outside region
KABUL: A Taliban government delegation was visiting Japan for the first time on Monday, in a rare diplomatic visit outside of the region.
The Afghan delegation left Kabul on Saturday, in a visit that local media said would last one week and included officials from the higher education, foreign affairs, and economy ministries.
'We seek dignified interaction with the world for a strong, united, advanced, prosperous, developed Afghanistan and to be an active member of the international community,' Latif Nazari, a deputy minister at the ministry of economy who is part of the delegation, tweeted on Saturday.
The Taliban government makes regular visits to neighboring and regional countries, including in Central Asia, Russia and China.
However, it has only officially visited Europe for diplomacy summits in Norway in 2022 and 2023.
Japan's embassy in Kabul temporarily relocated to Qatar after the fall of the previous foreign-backed government and the takeover by the Taliban in 2021.
However, it has since reopened and resumed diplomatic and humanitarian activities in the country.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Arab News
a day ago
- Arab News
Taliban hang up Kalashnikovs to pen memoirs of Afghan war
KABUL: Since trading the battlefield for Afghanistan's halls of power, some Taliban members have also swapped their weapons for pens to tell their version of the 20-year conflict with Western forces, who they accuse of distorting 'reality.' A flood of books has been written, mostly from a Western perspective, about the war between the US-led forces that invaded Afghanistan in the wake of the September 11 attacks until the Taliban's return to power in 2021. But in the years since, a proliferation of writings by Taliban figures — praising their exploits and the achievements of the 'Islamic Emirate' — is now the reigning narrative in Afghanistan. 'No matter what foreigners have written... they have largely ignored the reality of what happened to us and why we were forced to fight,' author Khalid Zadran told AFP. A member of the Haqqani network — long viewed as one of the most dangerous militant factions in Afghanistan — he now serves as the spokesman for the capital's police force. In his 600-page tome in Pashto published in April, he recounts US incursions in his home province of Khost, his childhood steeped in stories of soldiers' 'atrocities,' and his desire to join the Taliban in the name of his country's 'freedom.' 'I witnessed horrific stories every day — mangled bodies on the roadside,' he writes in '15 Minutes,' a title inspired by a US drone strike he narrowly escaped. Muhajer Farahi, now a deputy information and culture minister, penned his 'Memories of Jihad: 20 Years in Occupation' to 'state the facts,' he said. 'America, contrary to its claims, has committed cruel and barbaric acts, destroyed our country with bombs, destroyed infrastructure and has sown discord and cynicism between nations and tribes,' he told AFP from his office in central Kabul. Little attention is paid in either book to the thousands of civilians killed in Taliban attacks — many of them suicide bombings that entrenched fear across the country for nearly two decades. Farahi insists the Taliban 'were cautious in saving civilians and innocent' lives, while criticising fellow Afghans who collaborated with the pro-Western police as a 'stain' on the country. Rights groups accuse the current Taliban authorities of widespread abuses — particularly against women and girls, who the United Nations say are victims of what amounts to 'gender apartheid.' In his book published in 2023, Farahi claims the Taliban attempted to negotiate — in vain, he insists — with the United States over the fate of Osama bin Laden, whose capture or death Washington demanded after his plane hijackers killed around 3,000 people in the September 11, 2001 attacks. Bin Laden, the leader of Al-Qaeda, who had been based in Afghanistan, was killed by US forces in Pakistan in 2011. 'It was clear... that the Americans had already planned the occupation of Afghanistan,' writes Farahi in the English version of his book, which has been translated into five languages. In the wake of the September 11 attacks, Afghans thought it would 'have nothing to do with our country,' he continues, but soon realized that Afghanistan would face 'punishment.' For 20 years, the war pitted Taliban militants against a US-led coalition of 38 countries supporting the Afghan Republic and its forces. Tens of thousands of Afghans died in the fighting and in Taliban attacks, as did nearly 6,000 foreign soldiers, including 2,400 Americans. For Farahi, the war reflects the West's desire to 'impose its culture and ideology on other nations.' His disjointed journal mixes battlefield memories with polemical chapters railing against the American 'bloodthirsty dragon.' The book 'reveals the truths that were not told before because the media, especially the Western media, presented a different picture of the war,' he said. According to him, the mujahideen, or holy warriors, despite being far less equipped, were able to rely on their unity and God's aid to achieve victory. Only a few of the new wave of Taliban books have been autobiographies, which appeal to an audience seeking to understand the war 'from the inside,' according to Zadran. His book, initially 2,000 copies in Pashto, sold out quickly and another 1,000 are in the works — along with a Dari-language version, he said. Many chapters mention Bowe Bergdahl, the US soldier held hostage for five years by the Haqqani network. He recounts treks through the mountains along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border to move him between hideouts, efforts to convert him to Islam and conversations about his girlfriend back in the US. Both accounts end in 2021, before the transformation of the fighters who moved from remote mountain hideouts to the carpeted offices of the capital. There, their battle has turned diplomatic: the Taliban are now fighting for international recognition of their government. 'The war is over now,' Farahi said, 'and we want good relations with everyone' — even with the 'bloodthirsty dragon.'
Asharq Al-Awsat
4 days ago
- Asharq Al-Awsat
Trump's Travel Ban on 12 Countries Goes into Effect Early Monday
US President Donald Trump's order banning citizens of 12 countries from entering the United States goes into effect at 12:01 am ET (0401 GMT) on Monday, a move the president promulgated to protect the country from "foreign terrorists." The countries affected by the latest travel ban are Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen, Reuters reported. The entry of people from seven other countries - Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela - will be partially restricted. Trump, a Republican, said the countries subject to the most severe restrictions were determined to harbor a "large-scale presence of terrorists," fail to cooperate on visa security, have an inability to verify travelers' identities, as well as inadequate record-keeping of criminal histories and high rates of visa overstays in the United States. Officials and residents in countries whose citizens will soon be banned expressed dismay and disbelief. Chad President Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno said he had instructed his government to stop granting visas to US citizens in response to Trump's action. Afghans who worked for the US or US-funded projects and were hoping to resettle in the US expressed fear that the travel ban would force them to return to their country, where they could face reprisal from the Taliban. Democratic US lawmakers also voiced concern about the policies. "Trump's travel ban on citizens from over 12 countries is draconian and unconstitutional," said US Representative Ro Khanna on social media late on Thursday. "People have a right to seek asylum."
Arab News
5 days ago
- Arab News
'Return to your country' Kabul tells Afghans rebuffed by Washington
Akhund urged Afghans to return to their country, saying they would be protected even if they worked with US-led forces'You will not face abuse or trouble,' KABUL: The Taliban government on Saturday urged Afghans hoping to emigrate to the United States to instead return to Afghanistan, after Washington tightened entry President Donald Trump this week announced a travel ban targeting 12 countries, including Afghanistan, which his proclamation said lacked 'competent' central authorities for processing passports and on the ban on Saturday, Prime Minister Hassan Akhund urged Afghans to return to their country, saying they would be protected even if they worked with US-led forces in the two-decade fight against the Taliban insurgency.'For those who are worried that America has closed its doors to Afghans... I want to tell them, 'Return to your country, even if you have served the Americans for 20 or 30 years for their ends, and ruined the Islamic system',' he said in a speech marking the Eid Al-Adha holiday, broadcast by state media.'You will not face abuse or trouble,' he said, making reassurances that the Taliban Supreme Leader Hibatullah Akhundzada had 'granted amnesty for all.'After surging to power in 2021, Taliban authorities announced a general amnesty for Afghans who worked with the Western-backed forces and government. However, the United Nations has recorded reports of extrajudicial killings, detentions and the past four years, the Taliban government has imposed a strict view of Islamic law and restrictions on women which the UN says amount to 'gender apartheid.'Afghans fled in droves to neighboring countries during decades of conflict, but the chaotic withdrawal of US-led troops saw a new wave clamouring to escape Taliban government curbs and fears of reprisal for working with United States has not had a working embassy in Afghanistan since 2021 and Afghans must apply for visas in third countries, principally Pakistan which has recently ramped up campaigns to expel Trump returned to the White House in January, Afghans have gradually seen their chances of migrating to the United States or staying there administration orders have disrupted refugee pathways and revoked legal protections temporarily shielding Afghans from deportation starting in July.
