DUSHANBE, August 16. /TASS/. More than 20 terrorist groups are now operating in Afghanistan, posing a threat to the whole region, Mohammad Zahir Aghbar, the Afghan government's ambassador to Tajikistan, appointed before the Taliban came to power, has said.

"We are witnessing the presence of 21 terrorist groups in different parts of Afghanistan, which is a serious threat to the region and the world. We are witnessing the jihadists’ policy of closing of vocational schools and opening madrassas. This is very serious and will entail dire consequences," he told Asia Plus.

The diplomat also expressed the viewpoint that supporters of the radical Taliban (banned in Russia), who seized power in Afghanistan two years ago, "have been unable to build an inclusive government and will never do that."

The Taliban launched an operation to take control of Afghanistan after the US authorities in 2021 announced the decision to withdraw their armed forces. On August 15 of the same year, the radicals entered Kabul without encountering any resistance. In September, the Taliban announced the composition of an interim government, but its legitimacy has not yet been recognized by any country in the world. This year, on August 15, marches were held in several provinces of Afghanistan to commemorate the second anniversary of the Taliban's rise to power.

In January, The Independent Persian reported that Mohammad Zahir Aghbar was dismissed from his post of Afghanistan's ambassador to Tajikistan by the Taliban interim government's Foreign Ministry. The diplomat himself said at the time that he would continue to work at the embassy in Dushanbe because it does not recognize the Taliban's interim government.