Taliban officials meet German, Dutch diplomats, promise to prevent cultivation, smuggling of opium

Afghan officials on Thursday met diplomats of Germany and the Netherlands and promised to prevent the cultivation and smuggling of opium in the country.

Inamullah Samangani, deputy spokesman for the Islamic Emirate in a series of tweets said, "We will not allow anyone to use Afghanistan's soil against the region and the world. We will make efforts to prevent the cultivation and smuggling of opium and we are trying to provide alternative economic schemes in cooperation with the international community for the farmers," reported Tolo News.

The meeting took place in Kabul and according to Samangani, the Afghan officials discussed bilateral relations with the German and Dutch envoys.

"The deputies of prime minister Abdul Salam Hanafi and Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar today before noon met with representatives of the Netherlands and Germany and delegates accompanying them at the ARG (presidential palace)," tweeted Samangani.

He said that Baradar again stressed the need to release Afghanistan's bank assets, reported Tolo News.

"The frozen assets belong to the people of Afghanistan and we want the international community to pay attention to the economic challenges in Afghanistan," he said.

German envoy, Markus Potzel reiterated his country's continued humanitarian support to Afghanistan and pledged that Germany would provide 600 million euros of aid to Afghanistan.

The representative from the Netherlands was not named by the Islamic Emirate in their release, reported Tolo News.

( With inputs from ANI )

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