Blinken urges new Afghan government to be inclusive

The US expects that the new Afghan government will include not only representatives of the radical Taliban movement, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said at a briefing on the situation in Afghanistan on Sept. 3, Report informs referring to the US Department of State website.

“So, with regard to the government, we’ve seen different reports of a government in formation. I have not seen anything final or dispositive of what that government looks like, who’s in it, who’s not. So, I’m going to reserve comment and judgment until we see that. That may be coming up in the hours ahead, in the days ahead, but I haven’t seen anything final,” he noted.

“But I’d say two things about it. First, as we’ve said and as countries around the world have said, there is an expectation that any government that emerges now will have some real inclusivity and that it will have non-Talibs in it who are representative of different communities and different interests in Afghanistan. So we’ll see what, in fact, emerges,” he added.

“So the expectation is to see inclusivity in government, but ultimately the expectation is to see a government that makes good on commitments that the Taliban have made, particularly when it comes to freedom of travel; when it comes to not allowing Afghanistan to be used as a launching ground for terrorism directed at us or any of our allies and partners; when it comes to upholding the basic rights of the Afghan people, including women and minorities; when it comes to not engaging in reprisals,” Blinken said.