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Afghanistan: Australians deserved to die at war: Taliban

Matt CoughlanAAP
A member of the Taliban regime says Australia should not have followed America into war.
Camera IconA member of the Taliban regime says Australia should not have followed America into war. Credit: AAP

The Taliban has declared Australian troops killed in Afghanistan deserved to die because of the decision to follow America into the two-decade war.

A week after a spokesman said 41 Australian soldiers killed on the battlefield “died in vain”, another member of the regime has offered an incendiary reflection on the conflict.

Ahmadullah Wasiq, who is the deputy head of the Taliban’s cultural commission, doubled down on his colleague’s comments.

“Australia made a big mistake following America into a campaign pursuing the war in Afghanistan, the mistake of many countries blindly following America’s war,” he told SBS News.

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“Even if Australian troops have been killed they should have been killed. It was on both sides.”

Labor leader Anthony Albanese said the comments showed the Taliban was the same cruel regime that controlled Afghanistan between 1996 and 2001.

“The Taliban continue to show that not much has changed from the last time they were in office, where they engaged in barbaric acts, where they undermined the rights of women and girls in particular,” he said.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison was not asked about the comments at a news conference at which he revealed 3500 people evacuated from Afghanistan had been brought to Australia.

More than 70 per cent are women and children, while the remainder of the 250 troops that travelled as part of the rescue mission are expected to return home in coming days.

Mr Wasiq’s interview with the Australian public broadcaster made international waves after he revealed women would be banned from most sport.

“Islam and the Islamic Emirate do not allow women to play cricket or play the kind of sports where they get exposed,” he said.

The first-ever cricket Test between Afghanistan and Australia which was scheduled for November 27 in Hobart is almost certain to be scrapped because of the ruling.

Cricket Australia said it would have no choice but to cancel the match if women’s cricket was not supported by the regime.

Sport Minister Richard Colbeck called on the International Cricket Council to take a stand against the Taliban.

“The Taliban’s attitudes towards women and their individual rights should not be accepted by the international sporting community,” he told the ABC.

“Excluding women from sport at any level is unacceptable.”

He said Afghan athletes would remain welcome in Australia, but not under the Taliban flag.

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