MONITORING (SW) – John Kirby, coordinator for strategic communications at the National Security Council in the US, has said Washington has no intention of recognizing the caretaker government of the Islamic Emirate in Afghanistan.
In an interview with the VOA, he said the US was not in a position to recognize the Taliban’s government and that all US attention was focused on the ongoing tensions with Russia.
John Kirby, the former Pentagon spokesperson, told VOA’s Ukrainian service on Thursday the United States is “focused on making sure that Ukraine can continue to defend itself and its sovereignty.”
He was asked that Russia’s envoy in Afghanistan said Moscow can recognize the Taliban government, regardless of the American position.
“Russia can speak for themselves in terms of what governments they intend to recognize or not, we are not at a stage where we’re willing to do that with respect to the Taliban. What we would ask of any nation in the world, certainly any nation bordering Afghanistan is to not make decisions that are going to make it less stable and less secure than it is right now for the Afghan people”, he said.
John Kirby made the remarks a week after Russia’s special envoy to Afghanistan, Zamir Kabulov, said in an interview with Russian state television that there is a possibility of recognizing the Taliban government.
Kabulov said in the interview that if a coalition government is formed in Afghanistan, regardless of what other countries, including the United States, think, Russia will take steps to recognize the caretaker government of the Islamic Emirate.
It has been more than ten months since the Islamic Emirate came to power, but it has not been recognized by any country.
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