Taliban Breaks Promise, Afghan Shiite Leader Threatens To Continue War

Taliban illustration. (Wikimedia Commons/isafmedia)

JAKARTA - Afghanistan's Shia minority, the Hazara community, will continue armed confrontation with the Taliban if they break their promises and avoid tyranny, said former Afghan Vice President Karim Khalili, one of the Hazara leaders.

"So far, we have seen the interim (Taliban) cabinet, which is by no means inclusive. This continuation is unacceptable to other (political) forces and ethnic groups," Khalili stressed, quoting TASS September 22.

"This situation will surely become unbearable for the Tajiks and Uzbeks and they, along with the Hazara, will return to the battlefield."

Khalili further hopes that, with pressure from the global community, the Taliban will not impose its will on the entire population and civil war can be avoided.

"We are still fighting for it and hope the Taliban will learn from the 1990s and will be ready to establish an inclusive government and refrain from tyranny," he explained.

"We must not be forced to take the path of armed resistance to protect the lives and basic rights of our people," the Hazara chief warned.

According to Khalili, developments in Afghanistan are not only internal problems but also global security threats.

"I hope that poverty, war and drugs on the one hand and the lack of a legitimate system of government enforced by the people and the global community on the other, will not turn Afghanistan back into a breeding ground for terrorist groups, who will not return to Afghanistan. Not only destroying the area itself, but also posing a threat to international security," Khalili said.