Amid the announcement of the exchange of prisoners between Israel and Palestine, the Taliban* movement on Thursday slammed Western nations for their duplicitous position on the Middle East crisis.
"The duplicitous position of the Western governments and purported human rights bodies vis-a-vis violation of human rights and transgression of all humanitarian limits by the zionist regime in Gaza has caused irreparable damage to their credibility," The Taliban-controlled Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) said on Thursday.
The MoFA further added that a "lasting solution" to the decades-old Palestinian issue would not be possible without the creation of an "independent state" of Palestine.
"The comprehensive and lasting solution to the Palestinian issue is to end the occupation of historical Palestine and grant Palestinians the right to have an independent state on their historical territory like other nations," it noted.
The statement from Kabul came in the wake of the Israeli announcement of a four-day pause in its war operations in the Gaza Strip after the Palestine military movement Hamas and Tel Aviv agreed to a Qatari-brokered peace initiative.
Israel to Pause Gaza Operations Amid Exchange of Hostages With Hamas
According to Qatary Foreign Ministry, the agreement between the two sides will come into effect from Friday, beginning with the release of the first batch of hostages Hamas captured during its October 7 attacks in the southern part of the Mediterranean sovereign state.
Israel's intense bombardment of Gaza has left over 14,500 dead in the densely populated coastal enclave.
While Tel Aviv has agreed to a brief pause in its military operations there, the country's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned that its campaign will continue till it roots out Hamas from power in Gaza.
*The Taliban is under UN sanctions for extremism.