The Taliban has indicated that it is not opposed to normalising ties with Israel, despite previously claiming that this would not be possible.
During an interview with Al Jazeera on Wednesday, the spokesperson for the Taliban’s political bureau, Dr. Muhammad Naeem, said that the Taliban government’s policy “is to resolve problems through dialogue and mutual understanding with everybody.” “Whoever has a problem and wants to resolve it, we are perfectly ready,” he said.
When the interviewer further questioned of the policy also extended to Israel, the spokesperson remarked: “What problem do we have with Israel? Next thing someone will ask where are willing to (have a dialogue) with Mars.”
In Al-Jazeera Interview, Taliban Spokesman Dr. Muhammad Naeem Wardak Refuses to Rule Out Relations with Israel: What Problem Do We Have with Israel? It Is Strange to Ask Me about Issues That Have Nothing to Do with Us #Taliban #Israel #Afghanistan @IeaOffice pic.twitter.com/wvkHsQ6pZW
— MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) September 1, 2022
The interviewer further prodded Naeem on the statement, asking if the Taliban didn’t have an issue with Israel. Naeem responded, “I don’t know...This is the media for you...You bring stuff from the end of the world and throw it into the mix of our reality here. This is very strange.”
“If a country or a person does not have a problem with us, can you ask whether we are willing to resolve the problems with people we have nothing to do with? I think that asking this is unreasonable,” he stated.
The group’s latest comments on Israel come in sharp contrast to its stance last September, when it completely dismissed the possibility of such a partnership. “Of course, we won’t have any relation with Israel. We want to have relations with other countries; Israel is not among these countries,” Suhail Shaheen, a Taliban spokesperson told Sputnik News in an interview.
The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan condemns in strongest terms & calls for immediate cessation of brutal Israeli attacks on innocent & defenseless Muslims of Gaza that has led to martyrdom & injury of a number Palestinians. pic.twitter.com/rDxJuYbOEw
— Abdul Qahar Balkhi (@QaharBalkhi) August 6, 2022
Despite its comments this week, however, it continues to condemn Israel’s aggression against Palestinians, and in early August criticised Israel’s airstrikes on the Gaza Strip, during which at least 9 individuals were killed and 44 were injured. The Taliban Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a sharp rebuke and called on the international community to act to prevent Israel’s “brutal” attack on the “innocent” and “defenceless” Muslims of Gaza.
Even before the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan last August, the two countries never had formal diplomatic relations, and Afghanistan has refused to recognise Israel since the latter gained independence in 1948.
However, the United States-brokered Abraham Accords have facilitated the establishment of formal diplomatic ties between Israel and several Arab states, including the United Arab Emirates, Morocco, Sudan, and Bahrain. More recently, Turkey, too, restored full diplomatic ties with Israel.