Taliban say they won’t work with US in fighting ISIL

Taliban political spokesman Suhail Shaheen told the Associated Press there would be no cooperation with Washington on containing the increasingly active ISIL terrorist group in Afghanistan.

“We are able to tackle Daesh independently,” Shaheen said, when asked whether the Taliban would work with the US to contain ISIL, according to AP.

His remarks came before the Taliban and a US delegation set to begin their meeting in Doha on Saturday.

This meeting in Doha is the first since US occupying troops withdrew from Afghanistan in late August, ending a 20-year military occupation of the country as the Taliban overran the country.

No details have come out of today's round of meeting between the US delegation and the Taliban yet. The US has made it clear the talks are not a preamble to recognition.

In a message of condolence on Saturday, Iranian President Ebrahim Raeisi condemned the recent terrorist attack in Afghanistan's Kunduz, for which ISIL claimed responsibility.

The Iranian president blamed Washington for the Kunduz attack because of its support for the ISIL.

KI/PR