Afghanistan for Kashmir solution under UN

The Nation

ISLAMABAD - While announcing full diplomatic support for the Chechen Muslims the Afghan Foreign Minister, Maulvi Wakil Ahmad Mutawakil, said on Monday that the Taliban Government has extended diplomatic recognition to the Chechen government.
"We are the second country after Russia to extend diplomatic recognition to the Chechen government. "We have established diplomatic relations with the Chechen government," said the Afghan Foreign Minister while addressing a Press conference on the second day of his visit to Islamabad. Mutawakil said that the Chechen embassy in Kabul has started functioning on Sunday and they (Chechen government) would send their Ambassador to Afghanistan after getting approval from Chechan parliament.
Responding to a question whether his government would provide military assistance to the Chechen government, the Afghan Foreign Minister said that at present they have extended diplomatic recognition to the Chechen government, however, the nature of cooperation could be discussed through diplomatic channels later on. "We may have an accord with the Chechen government in future, but I don't know whether it would include military aspect," said Mutawakil. "The Chechens are best trained fighters and the Russian are selling their weapons to Chechen fighters," said the Afghan Foreign Minister in response to a query.
The Taliban Foreign Minister said that Chechen crisis is one of the most critical issues of the world and said that his government would extend full support to the breakaway Russian Republic. Maulvi Wakil urged the international community and the Muslim world to support an early settlement of the Chechen problem. The Afghan Foreign Minister urged the Muslim world to extend diplomatic recognition to the Chechen government. He said that his government believed that there was a distinction between terrorism and Jihad, "We condemn terrorism, but we support Jihad," the Afghan Foreign Minister maintained.
To a question, he said that the Afghan struggle against Russian occupation was an example of Jihad whereas the bomb blast in Kandahar was terrorism. He said that the United States had failed to provide solid evidence against Osama bin Laden. He said that Osama bin Laden once expressed his willingness to leave Afghanistan, but the United States blocked the move. To a question, the Afghan Foreign Minister said that his government had no knowledge about the whereabouts of the hijackers of Indian Airline, "we gave them ten hours to leave Afghanistan, and none of them is now inside Afghanistan" he said. He added that the Taliban government condemn the incident of hijacking as it was an undesirable act. Mutawakil denied presence of Maulana Masood Azhar in Afghanistan, "however if Maulana Masood applies for a visa he would be issued a visa," said the Afghan Foreign Minister.
He said that Kashmir issue should be settled in accordance with the United Nations Resolutions . He expressed concern over human rights violations going on in the Indian Held Kashmir. He said that the Taliban government wanted good relations with all neighbouring countries including Iran. Responding to a question, he said that an Iranian team had recently visited Kabul to look after the Iranian embassy building, "however there has been no talks between Taliban government and Iran," said the Afghan Foreign Minister. He said that the head of Taliban's ruling council Mullah Rabbani would be visiting Pakistan soon and during the visit some kind of agreement on Transit Trade would be signed.
He said that the Taliban Administration had announced general amnesty for Afghan refugees to facilitate their return to Afghanistan. To a question, the Taliban Foreign Minister said that the Taliban government was not against women education, "we believe in women education but in accordance with our culture and religion," he said. Responding to a question, the Afghan Foreign Minister said that United States was blocking recognition of Taliban government by the international community.