Women’s rights is an internal issue and it will not be raised at the upcoming international meeting on Afghanistan in Doha, Zabihullah Mujahid, spokesman of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA), said on Saturday.

Mujahid told a press conference in Kabul that the Islamic Emirate’s conditions for participation in the meeting had been accepted and its delegation would go to Doha to talk and resolve the problems.

He added that the third Doha meeting will discuss economic issues, narcotics and the achievements of the Islamic Emirate.

“Within the framework of the country’s national interests, we ask all countries not to leave the people of Afghanistan alone in these difficult circumstances, but to fulfill their obligations towards the rights of the Afghan people and to contribute to the reconstruction and economic strengthening of Afghanistan and to remove obstacles,” Mujahid said.

He also called on the countries participating in the Doha meeting to engage positively with the Islamic Emirate.

The third UN-sponsored meeting on Afghanistan is scheduled to begin tomorrow (Sunday) in the Qatari capital Doha.

Special representatives of countries on Afghanistan are expected to attend the meeting.

Zabihullah Mujahid will lead IEA’s six-member delegation at the meeting. The delegation includes representatives of IEA’s political office in Qatar, the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, counter-narcotics deputyship of the Interior Ministry and Da Afghanistan Bank.

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Following the Pakistani Defense Minister’s remarks about the possibility of operations against the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in Afghanistan, former prime minister Imran Khan’s Tehreek-Insaf (PTI) on Friday condemned the remarks, saying that Pakistan should not interfere in other countries.

“We don’t allow any interference in our country, so we shouldn’t interfere in any other country,” members of the united opposition in the National Assembly stated in an emergency meeting.

While condemning Asif’s rhetoric, opposition leaders stated that such statements endanger not only the “brotherly” relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan but also regional peace.

“Our ties with India are based on rivalry, and now we are trying to treat Afghanistan similarly. We cannot afford further escalation of the conflict and disorder,” Asad Qaiser, a senior member of PTI, remarked.

He warned that launching attacks inside a neighbouring country would risk pushing the entire region into war.

Omar Ayub, Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly, highlighted that “even major world powers have faced challenges in Afghanistan, which has always been considered a geostrategic focal point in the region”.

“India is leading many terrorist attacks inside Pakistan. Why didn’t the defence minister remark about launching attacks inside India?” he questioned during a media talk outside parliament. 

Pakistan’s Defense Minister Khawaja Asif said on Thursday that under Operation Azm-e-Istehkam, the government could target Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) hideouts across the border in Afghanistan.

Afghanistan’s Ministry of Defense in a statement, however, slammed the remarks as “careless,” warning of consequences if attacks take place.

Zabihullah Mujahid, spokesman of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA), in a press conference on Saturday, also said that IEA will not allow incursion into Afghan soil.

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US House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul has said that President Joe Biden’s claim that no American troops were killed in Afghanistan under his administration was not true.

Biden said in the presidential debate with former US President Donald Trump that he was the only president in a decade that “didn’t have any troops dying anywhere in the world.”

 “That is a lie, Mr. President,” McCaul said. “I’d like to remind President Biden of the 13 servicemembers that died on his watch during a terrorist attack at Abbey Gate on August 26, 2021, during his deadly and chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan.”

He noted that it was the deadliest day for the United States in Afghanistan in over a decade.

“And it will remain a stain on America and American foreign policy for generations. And it happened under Joe Biden’s watch,” McCaul said.

“Shame on him. Shame on him for his heartless comments that disregard the ultimate sacrifice of so many Americans under his tenure as Commander-in-Chief,” he added.

Trump in the presidential debate on CNN also hit out at Biden over America’s global stature which he said is like a “third world nation” today and said Washington is not “respected” anymore.

Trump termed the US withdrawal from Afghanistan as the “most embarrassing day” in the country’s history.

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