US: "Taliban Will Not Receive Support If They Do Not Fight Al-Qaeda"

[Image source=AP Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunwoo Lee] The U.S. government has warned that if the Taliban, the ruling power in Afghanistan, does not sever ties with terrorist organizations such as al-Qaeda, it will not be able to receive support from the international community. This is interpreted as a counter-response to the Taliban's objection, claiming a violation of the withdrawal agreement, immediately after the U.S. announced the killing of al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri.

On the 2nd (local time), John Kirby, White House National Security Council (NSC) Coordinator for Strategic Communications, said in a press briefing, "According to the 2020 Doha peace agreement between the U.S. and the Taliban, the Taliban must ensure that terrorist groups do not use Afghan territory as a safe haven," adding, "The Taliban wants relations with the U.S. and the West, wants to be part of the international community, and is requesting support. If they truly want this, they must implement the agreement under the Doha accord and confront terrorist organizations."

Earlier, the Taliban issued a statement condemning the U.S. after it announced the killing of al-Zawahiri, who was hiding in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan. Zabihullah Mujahid, spokesperson for the Taliban government, said in the statement, "Preliminary investigations by security and intelligence authorities have confirmed that there was a U.S. drone strike in a residential area of Kabul," and strongly criticized, "The U.S. drone attack clearly violates international norms and the Doha agreement, repeating the failures the U.S. has experienced over the past 20 years."

The U.S. is pressuring, claiming that it is the Taliban who violated the Doha agreement. The Doha agreement is a peace accord signed in Doha, Qatar, in February 2020 between the U.S. and the Taliban for the withdrawal of U.S. troops stationed in Afghanistan and the maintenance of peace. It is known that the agreement included conditions that the Taliban would eradicate terrorist organizations within Afghanistan and not harbor them.

As relations between the U.S. and Afghanistan deteriorate over the killing of the al-Qaeda leader, there are forecasts that Afghanistan's economic crisis will worsen further. Since the Taliban regained power last year, Afghanistan has fallen into a severe economic crisis following U.S. sanctions. The Taliban continues to demand that the U.S. lift the freeze on approximately $7 billion (about 9 trillion won) of overseas assets of the Afghan central bank, which the U.S. has frozen.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.