Blinken warns Syria’s HTS militants against isolation, cites Taliban’s example
Date
12/19/2024 6:15:56 AM
(MENAFN) US Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged Syria's jubilant HTS militants on Wednesday to keep their vows of inclusivity, saying they may learn from the Taliban's isolation in Afghanistan.
The Islamist movement, founded in Al-Qaeda and sponsored by Turkey, has promised to protect minorities since its lightning onslaught deposed strongman Bashar Assad this month after years of stalemate.
“The Taliban projected a more moderate face, or at least tried to, in taking over Afghanistan, and then its true colors came out. The result is it remains terribly isolated around the world,” Blinken stated at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York.
Following some initial overtures to the West, the Taliban reinstated a rigid interpretation of Islamic law, including the exclusion of women and girls from secondary and university education.
“So if you’re the emerging group in Syria,” Blinken declared, “if you don’t want that isolation, then there’s certain things that you have to do in moving the country forward.”
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