Taliban spokesman Abdul Qahar Balkhi was asked whether the Taliban condemned the 9/11 attacks in an interview conducted for the 25th anniversary of the attacks, which were directly linked to the United States. In the response attributed to Balkhi, he said that all attacks against civilians are condemned, regardless of where in the world they occur.
The statement does not include a direct condemnation naming the September 11, 2001, attacks. While the response sets out a general principle regarding attacks against civilians, it does not offer an explicit assessment of responsibility for the attacks or al-Qaeda's role.
The Taliban's previous position
Following the 9/11 attacks, the Taliban administration at the time announced that it condemned the attacks. However, the administration rejected accusations that Osama bin Laden was behind the attacks or demanded evidence for the claim. The United States also accused the Taliban administration of providing bin Laden with shelter in Afghanistan and refusing to hand him over.
The US-led military operation in Afghanistan began on October 7, 2001. In a statement dated September 10, 2012, the Taliban described the 9/11 attacks as a pretext used by the United States to launch its war in Afghanistan. The emphasis thus shifted from condemning the attacks to criticizing the US military intervention that followed them.
The Taliban's statements in 2019 likewise argued that there was no evidence that al-Qaeda was responsible for the 9/11 attacks. The group's previous position therefore combined condemnation of the attacks, a refusal to accept responsibility and criticism of the US intervention in Afghanistan.
The limits of Balkhi's response
Balkhi's words show that the Taliban used general language condemning attacks against civilians. However, his words cannot be taken to mean that the Taliban accepted that al-Qaeda carried out the 9/11 attacks or explicitly condemned the attack.
The interview's timing in September 2026, in the context of the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, brought the issue back into focus alongside the Taliban's previous statements. However, since the full context of the question and response and a verbatim transcript of the remarks have not been independently established, the statement cannot be said to mark a definitive change in the Taliban's historical position on 9/11.
