by Zarmina Mohammadi
The Afghan Taliban announced on Monday in a statement that the group fully backed and would safeguard all national projects – a move that critics believe is merely a ploy.
According to their statement, the group said: "And just as the leader of the Islamic Emirate has stated in his messages and as declared by delegations of the political office during international conferences, the Islamic Emirate not only backs all national projects which are in the interest of the people and result in the development and prosperity of the nation but are also committed to safeguarding them.
"These include large national projects like TAPI, CASA-1000, Mes Aynak, highway and railway projects, power and agricultural dams and other such projects that follow the guidelines set out by the Islamic Emirate," the group said.
But, government has hit back at the announcement and slammed it as a ploy by the militant group, arguing that the Taliban has inflicted major damage to the people and to the country's infrastructure over the past few months.
Government says that the Taliban has inflicted nearly two billion Afghanis worth of damage to the nation's infrastructure over the past few months.
Read the full story at TOLOnews