A Taliban spokesperson has warned the US not to interfere with Afghanistan culture even as the group will like to have a normal better relationship with the US following the militant group’s takeover of Afghanistan.
According to the Taliban “there will be no issue about women’s rights” despite widespread international concerns.
Speaking to Fox News on Friday, September 3, Suhail Shaheen said he opposes Western views that “women should have education without [a] hijab. That is a change of culture,… Our culture… they can receive education with hijab. They can work with hijab.”
When asked about future relations with the U.S., Shaheen said, “We should be focusing on how can we work together in a positive and constructive way which is in the best of interest of both sides. There will be no issue about women’s rights. No problem about their education, their work,” he added. “But we should not be after changing each other’s culture as we are not intending to change your culture, you should not be changing our culture.”
Shaheen also described the U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan as the closure of one chapter in the country’s history.
“We have closed one chapter. For us it was occupation. We ended that, we were staging resistance,” he told Fox News. “But now it is closed. It is the past. We have to focus on the future that is better for them and for us.”
Shaheen’s comments came after reports emerged that a new interim government will be announced soon in Kabul.
A source close to the militant group told Reuters that the interim government would consist only of Taliban members, contain 25 ministries and a consultative council of a dozen Muslim scholars.