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Taliban must decide if it wants international recognition: US President Joe Biden

Adding that the group appeared more committed to its beliefs, he said, “I think they're going through a sort of existential crisis about: Do they want to be recognized by the international community as being a legitimate government? I'm not sure they do.”

Taliban must decide if it wants international recognition: US President Joe Biden-dnm
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Washington D.C., First Published Aug 19, 2021, 6:01 PM IST

US President Joe Biden said in an ABC interview aired on Thursday, said the Taliban must decide whether it wants to be recognized by the international community, adding that he does not think the group had changed its fundamental beliefs.

“No,” Biden told ABC News when asked if he thought the Taliban had changed.  

Adding that the group appeared more committed to its beliefs, he said, “I think they're going through a sort of existential crisis about: Do they want to be recognized by the international community as being a legitimate government? I'm not sure they do.”

However, he added, the Taliban also had to grapple with whether it could provide for Afghans.

"They also care about whether they have food to eat, whether they have an income that ... can run an economy, they care about whether or not they can hold together the society that they in fact say they care so much about," Biden said in the interview, taped on Wednesday. "I'm not counting on any of that."

He also added that it would take economic and diplomatic pressure -- not military force -- to ensure women's rights.

Also read: Ex-Afghanistan president Ashraf Ghani vows to return, says 'Don't trust people who say I betrayed you'

Meanwhile, Biden on Wednesday had warned that leaving Afghanistan without turmoil was unthinkable, as the US urged the triumphant Taliban to provide safe passage for refugees. The Biden administration has long pledged an "orderly withdrawal" in America's longest war.

Biden, who acknowledged that he was stunned by the US-backed Afghan government's swift collapse, ordered the Kabul airport's takeover to run evacuations as thousands wanted to flee following Taliban seizing power and taking control.

On the other hand, in a taped video message broadcast to his Facebook page, former Afghanistan president Ashraf Ghani said that he had no intention of staying in exile in the Gulf country and was "in talks" to return home. He also stated that he was working to "protect Afghan control over our nation" without providing any information. Ghani spoke from the United Arab Emirates, which announced on Wednesday that he was being housed there under "humanitarian grounds". 

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