The Taliban demanded a new Constitution for Afghanistan and promised an “inclusive Islamic system” to govern the war-torn country at a rare gathering with senior Afghan politicians in Russia on Tuesday that excluded the Kabul government.
The manifesto, outlined in Moscow, comes a week after the Taliban held unprecedented six-day talks with U.S. negotiators in Doha about ending the 17-year war. The Moscow meeting — the Taliban’s most significant with Afghan politicians in recent memory — saw the insurgents praying together with sworn enemies, including former President Hamid Karzai, as they discussed their vision for the future.
“The Kabul government Constitution is invalid. It has been imported from the West and is an obstacle to peace,” Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai, who headed the Taliban delegation, said at a central Moscow hotel. “It is conflicted. We want an Islamic constitution,” he said, adding that the new charter would be drafted by Islamic scholars.
