Taliban rules out relations with Israel

A Taliban spokesman said there will be no relations between Afghanistan and Israel in an interview with the Russian state-owned Sputnik news outlet on Tuesday.

“Of course we won’t have any relation with Israel. We want to have relations with other countries, Israel is not among these countries,” said Suhail Shaheen.

The Taliban seized control of most of Afghanistan last month amid the US military withdrawal from the country and the accompanying collapse of the Afghan government. The hard-line Islamist group is now seeking to build its international relations.

“We would like to have relations with all the regional countries and neighboring countries as well as Asian countries,” said Shaheen.

The spokesman’s comments were picked up by The Times of Israel on Wednesday.

Like most Muslim-majority countries, the previous Afghan government also did not recognize Israel. However, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco all established full relations with Israel last year.

The Taliban did speak to the Israeli press recently, albeit accidentally. Shaheen took a question from Israel’s public broadcaster Kan at a press conference in Qatar last month. The journalist identified himself as working for Kan, but Shaheen later clarified he did not know the outlet was Israeli.

Only Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Pakistan recognized the Taliban when the group last ruled Afghanistan before the US-led invasion in 2001. Several Gulf states called for peace last month after the Taliban victory. Qatar also asked the Taliban to respect women’s rights and the UAE sent humanitarian aid to Afghanistan last week. Iran has also developed its relationship with the Taliban recently.