MOSCOW, September 22. /TASS/: Afghanistan’s Shiite minority, the Hazara community, will resume armed confrontation with the Taliban (outlawed in Russia) if the radicals renege on their promises and do not refrain from tyranny, former Vice President Karim Khalili, who leads the Hazaras, one of the country’s main ethnic groups, said on Wednesday.
"So far, we have seen [the Taliban’s] interim Cabinet, which is in no way inclusive. The continuation of this course is unacceptable for other [political] forces and ethnic groups," Khalili insisted. "This situation will definitely become unbearable for the Tajiks and the Uzbeks, and they, together with the Hazaras, will return to the battlefield," the leader noted.
Meanwhile, Khalili hoped that following pressure from the global community, the Taliban would not impose their will on the entire population, and civil war would be avoided. "We are still striving for it and hope that the Taliban will learn from [the experience of] the 1990s and will be ready to establish an inclusive government and refrain from tyranny," Khalili went on to say.
"We must not be forced to go down the path of armed resistance in order to protect the lives and basic rights of our people," the head of Hazaras warned.
According to Khalili, the developments in Afghanistan are not only an internal problem but also a threat to global security. "I hope that poverty, war and drugs on the one hand and the lack of a legitimate governance system upheld by the people and the global community on the other, won’t revert Afghanistan back into a breeding ground for terrorist groups, which will not only destroy the county itself, but also pose a threat to international security," Khalili concluded.
