EU responds to Taliban, says defining inclusive government is not task of international community

Kabul [Afghanistan], January 28 (ANI): Responding to the Taliban's statement that the international community has yet to define "an inclusive government," the European Union (EU) on Friday said that defining an inclusive government in Afghanistan is not the task of the international community and Afghan men and women must do it.
Special Representative of European Union for Afghanistan Tomas Niklasson tweeted, "It is not the task of the international community to define an inclusive Afghan government. It is for all adult Afghan men and women to do so through transparent processes - on which they have also had a say - and respecting their rights. Perhaps a recipe for domestic legitimacy?"
Earlier, Taliban's acting Minister of Foreign Affairs, Amir Khan Muttaqi, after the three-day visit to Oslo told Tolo News' reporter in a gathering in Kabul on Thursday that the international community's call for the formation of an inclusive government is a political "excuse."
Muttaqi insisted that the current government represents all Afghan ethnic groups, and he said that the government's cabinet is yet to be completed.
"(The international community) doesn't have a definition for an inclusive government, nor is there an example ... these are just excuses," he said.
The Islamic Emirate came to power in mid-August following the rapid collapse of the government of President Ashraf Ghani. The formation of inclusive government is one of the preconditions of the international community for the recognition of the Islamic Emirate's interim government.
"It is not an inclusive government and neither is the cabinet technically prepared," said Sayed Zakir Shah Sadat, a political analyst.
To recognize the current Afghan government, the international community has called for the formation of an inclusive government and for the respect of the rights of women and minorities, as well as human rights generally. No country has recognized the government yet. (ANI)