IEA official says there is no alternative to current government

It is not in the interest of anyone to have a failed Afghan state, Abdul Qahar Balkhi, a spokesman for Afghanistan’s foreign ministry said in an interview this week.

Speaking to China’s CGTN, Balkhi said that there is no alternative to the current government and said people need to support it. He stated the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) government is trying to create a win-win situation for everyone.

“It is a golden opportunity not only for Afghans to bring prosperity, security and well-being to our nation but also for the international community to finally have this burden that has been on its shoulders for 43 years [lifted] and to let the Afghans function as a normal state and as a normal people,” Balkhi said.

On the issue of restrictions on women and girls, Balkhi said there are some societal constraints within Afghanistan in terms of the culture and tradition that cannot change overnight.

He said that women are allowed to work and that 94,000 women are working in the education sector, 4,000 of which are in the higher education sector and 14,000 in the health sector.

He pointed out that women from certain tribes around the world, including in Africa and the Amazon, had different cultures, some of whom “did not wear clothes”.

“No one has any problems with how they operate. Yet when it comes to Afghanistan, there is focus on the dress code,” he said.

“Why am I not allowed to dress the way I want to dress, the way my woman wants to dress, why do we have to be a copy, carbon copy of the United States,” Balkhi said.