Taliban Mourns Assassination of Japan’s Abe Shinzo: ‘A Great Sorrow for the People of Japan’

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe speaks during a press conference at the prime minister
Franck Robichon/Getty Images
Nick Gilbertson

The Taliban terrorist organization, which currently rules Afghanistan, offered condolences to the “people of Japan” and its government on Friday following the assassination of former Prime Minister Abe Shinzo.

“Ministry of Foreign Affairs” spokesman Abdul Qahar Balkhi announced the Taliban’s sympathies in a statement posted to Twitter.

“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan extends its condolences to the Government and people of Japan over the assassination of the former Prime Minister of Japan, Shinzo Abe,” he wrote. 

An assassin shot Abe twice while he was giving a speech in Nara City, where he “was campaigning for the upcoming Upper House election,” Police Identified the man as 41-year-old Self-Defense Forces (SDF) veteran Yamagami Tetsuya.

“Abe was transported to (the hospital) at 12:20pm. He was in a state of cardiac arrest upon arrival. Resuscitation was administered. However, unfortunately he died at 5:03 pm,” said Professor Hidetada Fukushima at Nara Medical University Hospital, according to AFP.

Abe had previously served as the prime minister of Japan from 2006-07 and from 2012-20, making him the longest-serving figure in that role. He resigned in 2020 citing a longtime battle with ulcerative colitis, a digestive condition that had cut short his first prime ministership, as well.

In a follow-up tweet, Balkhi highlighted Japan’s “humanitarian” efforts in Afghanistan, adding that “the people of Afghanistan” are mourning for Japanese citizens.

“Japan has maintained close ties with Afghanistan and, as in the past, has provided significant humanitarian assistance to the people of Afghanistan. The people of Afghanistan consider this incident a great sorrow for the people of Japan and share their sympathy with them,” he wrote.

A 2014 article in the Journal of Peacebuilding & Development, authored by Kuniko Ashizawa, noted that Japan had been “a principal player in international assistance to Afghanistan, ranked second only to the United States in its overall financial assistance disbursed since 2002.”

Ashizawa pointed out that Japan’s involvement in Afghanistan was “primarily non-military” and focused on “economic infrastructure-oriented assistance.”

Japan’s humanitarian efforts in the country — which is now controlled by the Taliban following President Joe Biden’s disastrous withdrawal of military personnel in August — extended to providing aid and sympathies during natural disasters, such as the May 2014 landslides in Afghanistan that claimed the lives of hundreds in the vicinity of Nowabad in Badakhshan Province. 

Japan, led by Abe at the time, sent humanitarian aid following the tragedy, according to Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

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