Biden recounted his several trips to the Afghan war zone as a senator and vice president of the US, including the one in 2008 when he got stranded in the snow….reports Asian Lite News
US President Joe Biden has now irked Afghans by repeatedly disparaging their country as a “Godforsaken place”, causing Kabul’s Taliban rulers to claim that the American leader was doing so out of frustration, Dawn reported.
Last month, President Biden annoyed Pakistanis when he described their country as “one of the most dangerous nations in the world” that possessed nuclear weapons without any ‘cohesion’.
On Friday, he targeted Afghanistan. “A lot of you have been to Afghanistan. I’ve been to every part of it. It’s a Godforsaken place – it’s a Godforsaken place,” said the US president while addressing war veterans at an election rally in San Diego, Dawn reported.
He recounted his several trips to the Afghan war zone as a senator and vice president of the US, including the one in 2008 when he got stranded in the snow.
On Saturday, Chief Taliban spokesperson Zabiullah Mujahid responded to Biden’s remarks at a news conference in Kabul, claiming that the US leader was doing so in frustration because his party was losing the midterm elections in the US.
“Those making such remarks are doing so out of their frustration and envy for Afghanistan,” he said, adding that since the Taliban takeover in August 2022, peace and stability had returned to Afgh�anistan and the Afghans were “going about with their daily lives normally”.
Too slow to engage
US Representative from Western Michigan, Peter Meijer said that the Western countries and America particularly are moving too slowly in engaging with the Afghanistan interim government.
During an interview with ToloNews, Meijer said, “My concern and my criticism of a lot of international engagement, especially from the American side, is it is too slow, this is a moment of change, this is a moment of opportunity, but it is also a moment that if we go down the pathways of the past if we fall back into those old habits and trends of mistrust, if we sacrifice and disregard a lot of the improvements and trust that have been built over the past year, the security cooperation we saw –I saw first hand–at Kabul airport during the US withdrawal.”
“I think we have a lot of strong foundations to start to build upon and we cannot wait for the two or three decades it took for the US–and to give an example: Vietnam– to build a strong relationship. We have to make sure we are not letting the future get hung up by the concerns of the past,” he added
Talking about Afghanistan politics, a US Representative said that the Islamic Emirate is the only government and America accepts and deals with that reality.
He further added that there are cultural differences between western countries and Afghanistan and one cannot impose their values, ToloNews reported.
“It also is important that the Islamic Emirate recognize the desires and the wishes of its own citizens to pursue what is best for their futures,” Meijer said.
Meijer also noted that there would be grave consequences if small differences get in the way and expectations on both sides are not met.
“Those nations who set conditions for the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, which it should accept, the Islamic Emirate is also looking for a way to do something to meet their conditions, which at least does not conflict with the Islamic laws and Afghan customs and traditions,” ToloNews quoted political analyst Mohammad Nasir Haqqani as saying.
“The world demands that an inclusive government should be created and girls should be allowed to go to school and also human rights should be upheld, these are also the demands that the Afghan people support them,” said Wahed Faqiri, international relations expert.
However, Zabiullah Mujahid, the Islamic Emirate’s spokesperson, denied that human rights were being violated in Afghanistan and he added that Kabul wants to interact with the international community.
Since the Islamic Emirate came to power about fifteen months ago, various nations have opened embassies in Kabul, but no country has yet to formally recognize it, according to ToloNews. (IANS/ANI)