Delegation says Taliban seeks ‘dignified’ international interplay because it builds ‘sturdy’ and ‘developed’ Afghanistan.
A Taliban delegation has arrived in Japan on what’s the first go to by the group that guidelines Afghanistan, in line with media within the East Asian nation.
The delegation, consisting of overseas affairs, training, economic system and well being officers, arrived on Sunday for a weeklong go to, the Asahi Shimbun newspaper reported. The go to is a rarity for the Taliban, whose diplomatic journeys have beforehand remained near Afghanistan since regaining energy in 2021.
The Taliban representatives are anticipated to hunt humanitarian assist and probably focus on diplomatic ties with Japanese officers.
Latif Nazari, a deputy minister on the Taliban’s economic system ministry, described the go to as a part of the group’s efforts to change into an “energetic member of the worldwide neighborhood”.
“We search dignified interplay with the world for a powerful, united, superior, affluent, developed Afghanistan and to be an energetic member of the worldwide neighborhood,” Nazari, who’s a part of the delegation, wrote in a submit on X on Saturday.
Citing Afghan diplomatic sources, Japan’s public broadcaster NHK mentioned the Taliban representatives plan to “change views with Japanese authorities officers”.
Uncommon journey exterior the area
Whereas the Taliban authorities makes common visits to neighbouring and regional international locations, together with Central Asia, Russia and China, it hardly ever travels exterior the area. It has formally visited Europe just for diplomacy summits in Norway in 2022 and 2023.
Japan’s embassy in Kabul quickly relocated to Qatar after the autumn of the earlier foreign-backed authorities and the takeover by the Taliban in 2021. But it surely has since reopened and resumed diplomatic and humanitarian actions within the nation.
The Taliban’s go to to Japan comes simply days after ISIL (ISIS) claimed duty for a deadly suicide bombing exterior the Ministry of City Growth and Housing in Kabul, the newest in a sequence of assaults by the group.
Japan’s embassy condemned the assault, posting on X on Sunday that “these assaults of terror should stop instantly”.
We condemn the heinous terrorist assault on the de facto Ministry of City Growth and Housing in Kabul on Feb 13, which resulted in a number of individuals killed and wounded.
We specific condolences to the victims and the households of those that have been affected.— Embassy of Japan in Afghanistan (@JapaninAFG) February 16, 2025
