KABUL – The Pakistani Ambassador to Afghanistan Zahid Nasrullah Khan hasconfirmed that the Taliban group has good contacts with the regionalcountries as he admits that Pakistan has limited influence over the group.
Khan made the remarks during an interview with The Diplomat and in responseto a question regarding President Ghani’s offer to Taliban for peace andthe influence of Pakistan to encourage the group for participation in peacetalks.
“We have communicated this to the international community, including theU.S., that one thing needs to be understood: the Afghan character is veryindependent. Even when the Soviets withdrew in 1989, and we had a lot ofinfluence with the mujahideen because we stood with them in that proxy war,they never listened to us and they were never able to reach any agreement.
Then, the second instance was when Mullah Omar was in power and 9/11happened. Pakistan was the [only] country that was recognizing thatgovernment, even the UAE and Saudi Arabia had stepped back, but he neverlistened to us,” the Pakistani Ambassador said.
“So yes, we have influence, but limited influence. You cannot expectPakistan to guarantee that they will listen to us – they may not listen tous. And also within the regional environment there are now also othercountries with which Taliban have good contacts, their leadershipespecially,” he added.
This comes as the Afghan and US officials have long been insisting that theTaliban receives support from Russia and Iran apart from Pakistan.
Following a coordinated Taliban attack on Farah city, the Afghan defenseminister said on Saturday that the recent violence in Farah province haslinks with the management of the water resources, apparently pointingtowards Iran’s concerns regarding the management of water resources flowingfrom Afghanistan.
The US Department of Defense or Pentagon officials had earlier said thatthey are not ruling out the involvement of Iran in a major offensivecarried out by the Taliban militants in western Farah city of Afghanistan.
“I don’t think you can ever rule out how much Iran interferes throughoutthis region. Iran remains the most destabilizing factor in the Middle East.So no, I don’t think you can ever rule out their mischief,” a spokespersonfor Pentagon Dana White said.