The Afghan Taliban announced on Monday in a statement that the group fully backed and would safeguard all national projects – a move that critics believe is merely a ploy.
According to their statement, the group said: “And just as the leader of the Islamic Emirate has stated in his messages and as declared by delegations of the political office during international conferences, the Islamic Emirate not only backs all national projects which are in the interest of the people and result in the development and prosperity of the nation but are also committed to safeguarding them.
“These include large national projects like TAPI, CASA-1000, Mes Aynak, highway and railway projects, power and agricultural dams and other such projects that follow the guidelines set out by the Islamic Emirate,” the group said.
But, government has hit back at the announcement and slammed it as a ploy by the militant group, arguing that the Taliban has inflicted major damage to the people and to the country’s infrastructure over the past few months.
Government says that the Taliban has inflicted nearly two billion Afghanis worth of damage to the nation’s infrastructure over the past few months.
“Until now the Taliban has been the main obstruction in the way of development of Afghanistan, over the past few months, nearly two billion Afs in loses was inflicted on public utility projects. In practice we have not seen anything to say that the Taliban are not causing harm to Afghanistan and its people,” said MoI spokesman Sediq Sediqqi.
Meanwhile, the Taliban’s statement continues: “The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan is an Islamic and national force of the country waging Jihad and struggling to bring an end to the occupation, giving all lawful rights to the people and securing Islamic and national goals. And the sacrifices presented in this path are not hidden from anyone.”
The statement says that the “Islamic Emirate directs all its Mujahideen to help in the security of all national projects that are in the higher interest of Islam and the country.”
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Water and Energy has said that the Taliban will not be able to create obstructions in the way of economic projects.
“If the electricity is hit in one direction, it is connected from an alternative route, they (Taliban) changed their strategy when they saw that it is not working,” said Amanuddin Ghalib, deputy technical minister of energy and water
Referring to the Taliban’s statement, some economic commentators have said that government must not be deceived by the Taliban announcement and instead beef up security measures for economic projects.
“Giving reward to the Taliban means that politically we endorse them,” said economist Sayed Massoud.
The statement comes a day after Afghanistan’s President Ashraf Ghani and his Turkmenistan counterpart President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow on Monday afternoon officially inaugurated the Imamnazar (Turkmenistan) and Aqina (Afghanistan) Railway Line between the two nations.http://www.tolonews.com/en/afghanistan/28615-critics-scoff-at-taliban-pledge-to-protect-national-projects
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