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In a February 15, 2022 interview on Afghanistan TV, the Taliban’s Acting Defense Minister of Afghanistan Mawlawi Mohammad Yaqub Mujahid condemned U.S. President Joe Biden’s decision to transfer Afghan assets to 9/11 victims and for humanitarian aid. He said that no Afghans were involved in 9/11 attacks and that this decision was "cruel" and "illogical." Mujahid also said that he hopes Afghanistan will have its own organized army and that it will protect itself without "outside help." Later in the interview, he said that ISIS is not a threat to Afghanistan, and that Afghani security forces will not allow anyone to endanger the lives, honor and property of their countrymen. The interview was accompanied by original English subtitles, provided by Afghanistan TV.
Interviewer: "In which US President Joe Biden identified the frozen assets of Afghanistan to the victims of September 11 and said the rest is to be given to charity foundations, what is your response to this?"
Mawlawi Mohammad Yaqub Mujahid: "When I heard about this decision it really made me upset. And this is something really cruel that they have did and is not acceptable for any Afghan and we have followed the media, even the Americans themselves have condemned this decision. And many people have reacted against that.
"I condemn this decision and call on them to reconsider this decision. They are very late, twenty years later. They are paying the price of that, so this is very late and unreasonable decision and the Afghans were not involved in that issue at all."
Interviewer: "Yes, there was not a single Afghan in it, all Arabs were involved in that issue."
Yaqud Mujahid: "They have not yet proved whether Afghans were involved in the incident or not. Who carried out the attack and when it happened, whose assets are frozen and whose money is being paid, its very illogical. We strongly condemn this and it's not acceptable for us in any condition."
[...]
Interviewer: "Will Afghanistan once again have a regular army?"
Yaqud Mujahid: "I hope that in the very near future we will have a strong and organized army that will stand on its own and will not need anyone's help and will protect their country. We hope inshallah we will succeed in this"
Interviewer: "How many troops does Afghanistan have?"
Yaqud Mujahid: "Based on the guidance of the leadership, we have decided to build an army up to 110,000. And in the future, depending on the situation, we will decide how many troops our country will need to build for it."
[...]
Interviewer: "Is ISIS a major threat to Afghanistan's future?"
Yaqud Mujahid: "In my opinion ISIS is not a threat to Afghanistan. You know the people of Afghanistan are smart and they are very experienced. It is clear that who is trying to make ISIS a threat to Afghans. This is a big campaign for them, we have stopped 90% of ISIS. All the groups that are trying to harm the system or the people, we stand against them.
"Our intelligences are very active and they have done a lot of work. Our security forces are vigilant and we will not allow anyone to endanger the lives, honor and property of our countrymen."
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