CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR: Mr. Haqqani--
Sirajuddin Haqqani, welcome to the program.
SIRAJUDDIN HAQQANI: [non-english speech]
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR: Now, you have only recently
shown yourself publicly.
Here, it was at a police passing out parade.
This is your first proper interview.
Why now?
SIRAJUDDIN HAQQANI: [non-english]
INTERPRETER: Based on the current necessity,
and because of this necessity, the local and international
community had concerns.
Based on the concerns that existed
on local and international levels
about a number of individuals who do not want to be blamed
for implementing the commitments that
have been made with the international community.
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR: The only thing we really
know about your thoughts now is something
you wrote for "The New York Times" back a couple of years
ago at the beginning of negotiations
with the Trump administration.
You wrote then that "I'm confident."
And you said, "once this territory is liberated,
we together will find a way to build an Islamic system
in which all Afghans have equal rights, where
the rights of women that are granted by Islam,
from the right to education to the right to work,
are protected, and where merit is the basis
for equal opportunity."
I want to know whether you still believe that.
SIRAJUDDIN HAQQANI: [non-english speech]
INTERPRETER: The commitments that have been made--
the situation at the time was a situation of war.
The opposing parties have provided
a very bad picture and definition
of our administration.
We wanted to take over the government by peaceful means.
And the former government, with the assistance
of some other circles, sabotaged our particular plan
or program, the transfer of power
under military conditions.
Currently, there are a large amount of rumors and hearsay.
And for this reason, the strong decision
is under way so that we can implement the commitments that
have been made by us within an environment of trust
so that we can implement those commitments.
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR: Many times I
have spoken occasionally to Taliban leaders,
even back in the 1990s.
And they told me something similar,
that it will take time.
And yet it never happened.
Do you believe that young girls, secondary school
girls will be allowed to go to school here in Afghanistan?
SIRAJUDDIN HAQQANI: [non-english speech]
INTERPRETER: I would like to provide some clarification.
There is no one who opposes education for women.
And already, girls are allowed to go to school up to grade 6
and above that grade.
The work is continuing on a mechanism.
You may have heard that this is not opposed at the level
of leadership or the cabinet.
But the issue has been postponed until further notice.
In the declaration provided by the Ministry of Education,
there were some shortcoming within the preparation
that were ongoing.
Work is ongoing on those issues.
Through this interview and news channel,
I am assuring that there is no one
opposed to education, only that work
has started on the mechanism.
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR: Could you tell us when
you think that will happen?
I know there has been a big meeting in Kandahar
with your Supreme Leader Mr. Akhunzada.
Can you tell me whether any decisions were
made over this past few days?
SIRAJUDDIN HAQQANI: [non-english speech]
INTERPRETER: What I am saying to you
is that very soon you will hear very good news
about this issue, God willing.
We will specify the time.
On the arrangement that has been provided by the leadership,
work is ongoing on that.
And you will hear very good news soon.
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR: Can I ask you--
I don't know whether you have any daughters.
But do you favor your daughters going to secondary school?
SIRAJUDDIN HAQQANI: [non-english speech]
INTERPRETER: We all believe that education has been created
as a blessing from God, which has
been made essential to both men and women.
As I mentioned earlier, there is no one is opposed to education.
The problem is education based on the Afghan way
of thinking, and understanding the culture
aspect of Afghanistan.
There is an issue of making arrangement
of Islamic rules and principle.
On a broader level, the situation
that exists in Afghanistan concerning the issue of hijab,
because if someone is giving away
their daughters or sisters, they do that based on total trust.
We must establish the conditions so that we can ensure
their honor and security.
We are acting to ensure this.
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR: I'm going to come
back to this in a minute.
But first, I want to ask you about the United States
because many people in the United States
are obviously interested.
Now, you have signs and slogans that I've
seen painted on the walls, some of them
touting defeating the United States.
Some of them say that you are by the people, of the people.
About America-- do you consider America still to be your enemy?
SIRAJUDDIN HAQQANI: [non-english speech]
INTERPRETER: I would like to make a small clarification.
The period of the last 20 years was a situation
of defensive fighting and war.
When the agreement was made in Doha,
we decided that we would not be talking about this.
In the future, we would like to have
good relations with the United States
and the international community based
on rules and principles that exist in the rest of the world.
And based on that arrangement, we
have made commitment with them.
And currently, we do not look at them as enemies.
But based on their conduct, the Afghans have reservations
about their intentions.
From our side, the freedom of the country and struggling
for the country's defense is a legitimate right in accordance
with the international rules.
Currently, we do not look at them as enemies.
And we have, time and again, spoken about diplomacy.
We are committed to the Doha agreement.
Like the rest of the world, we want relations
with them based on principles and diplomatic norms
that they establish with us, and that they
don't go back on that.
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR: We'll get to some
of those reasons in a moment.
But I do have to ask you, Mr. Haqqani, because you know very
well that you are under personal sanctions
by the United States, which also has
a multimillion-dollar bounty on your head.
This is what a top Western official
told me just before I got here.
He said, "We're in a new world.
The guy"-- that's you--
"has a huge amount of American blood on his hands.
He's got in the Taliban the tightest
ties to extremist movements.
He was also one of the first to put women
back to work in his ministry.
We have seen his ministry take promising steps
to contain terrorism.
To call it a paradox is an understatement.
This is not just my opinion.
It's the opinion of every single envoy
who works on these issues."
So on the one hand, they believe you're a terrorist,
I'm sorry to say. that's they who say that.
On the other hand, they think they can work with you.
What do you say to that?
SIRAJUDDIN HAQQANI: [non-english speech]
INTERPRETER: I would say that this is a judgment
that they should make.
I have mentioned this before, that they
have fought us intensely.
And in order to defend the country and ourselves,
our response was the same.
But the commitment and the form of governance,
in order to create secure Afghanistan,
we sent a positive message to the world
and sent a positive message to our nation,
while the previous situation had concealed our real picture.
And currently, praise God, under the conditions of freedom,
our conduct is being revealed gradually
to the international community.
And also, this has been revealed to certain circles
within the country who are thinking negatively about us.
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR: One of the key pledges
you made to the United States was that Afghanistan would
never again be used as a basis for terrorism
against the US or its allies.
Do you-- are you still committed to that?
And how do you explain, in recent months,
there have been attacks here, people saying that they belong
to ISIS, ISIS-K, increasingly bold attacks on, you know,
on education centers, even on mosques, on a bus,
even on a school.
Some 100 or so people have been killed
in recent weeks and months.
I mean, that doesn't look like a very secure situation.
SIRAJUDDIN HAQQANI: [non-english speech]
INTERPRETER: The commitments that we have made, if you think
about it, during the 14 months after Doha, even though there
were a large number of transgressions continuing
from the opposing side against us,
our leadership was making recommendations
to us repeatedly that we should stick to our commitment as well
as the fact that until the liberation of Kabul,
we were making effort to uphold our commitment
and come to power through peaceful means.
Here, we have internal threats.
And some are deliberately elevating the threats
to portray them as a cause of concern for the nation
and for the international community.
There can be threats to the rest of the world that are
orchestrated by a government.
But we would like to strongly reassure the rest of the world
that our land will not be used as a threat to anyone.