RASC News Agency: Khaled Zakaria, Afghanistan’s ambassador to Italy, has issued a grave warning about the Taliban’s transformation of Afghanistan into a sanctuary for international terrorist groups. In a candid interview with The Telegraph, Ambassador Zakaria described the country, now under Taliban control, as an epicenter of global terrorism, warning that the West is dangerously underestimating the scale of the threat. According to Zakaria, more than 26 active terrorist organizations are now operating freely across Afghanistan, emboldened by the Taliban’s ideological alignment and tacit support. Among these groups, Al-Qaeda and ISIS-K remain the most prominent, while Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), the Tajik Taliban movement, and even Boko Haram originally based in West Africa have also found refuge within the country’s increasingly lawless terrain.
“The Taliban have failed or more accurately, refused to prevent these groups from using Afghanistan’s oil as a launchpad for regional and global violence,” Zakaria stated. “They are not a government; they are a facilitator of jihadist extremism.” The ambassador highlighted the dangerously close ties between the Taliban and Al-Qaeda, noting that the two groups are now more intertwined than at any point in recent history. He confirmed that Al-Qaeda militants are operating with relative freedom, particularly in eastern and southern Afghanistan, while ISIS-K is rapidly consolidating its influence in both the northern and southern regions of the country.
Zakaria emphasized that the Taliban are not merely passive hosts to these extremist groups; they are actively exploiting them as instruments of geopolitical blackmail. “The Taliban are using terrorist factions as tools to pressure neighboring countries and assert control through fear,” he warned. “They manipulate these groups not just for ideological alignment but for strategic gains.” He further cautioned that the danger is not limited to the region. “A large-scale attack is imminent either in Europe or the United States,” he warned. “And it may very well eclipse the horrors of 9/11 in both scale and consequence.”
Zakaria categorically rejected the notion that any faction within the Taliban represents moderation or reform. “There is no such thing as a moderate Taliban,” he said. “This group is ideologically hardwired to reject democratic norms, women’s rights, international diplomacy, and secular governance. Their worldview is built upon radical religious absolutism and militant jihad incompatible with any civilized system of statecraft.” He went on to debunk the common misconception that the Taliban represent the ethnic or national aspirations of the Afghanistan people. “The Taliban are not the voice of any particular ethnic group. They are a violent product of extremist Madrassas and foreign intelligence patronage,” he said. “They do not speak for Afghanistan; they speak for an ideology of oppression.”
Despite the Taliban’s campaign to delegitimize former government institutions abroad, Zakaria reaffirmed the continued operation and independence of the Afghanistan’s embassy in Rome. The mission, like many others, refuses to cooperate with the Taliban’s so-called Ministry of Foreign Affairs and continues to provide limited consular services, even under severe constraints. However, Taliban authorities have declared all documents issued by 14 diplomatic missions including the Rome embassy as invalid. This move, widely seen as part of the Taliban’s attempt to erase the diplomatic legacy of the former republic, has had significant consequences for Afghanistani citizens abroad.
“We used to process and issue 20 to 30 visas per month,” Zakaria lamented. “Now, under Taliban pressure and international ambiguity, we are no longer able to serve the community as we once did.” Yet, despite these obstacles, Zakaria remains resolute. “This embassy will not bow to a regime that shelters terrorists and oppresses its own people,” he said. “We will continue to represent the true Afghanistan a nation that longs for peace, justice, and international engagement not one hijacked by extremists.”
