Will respect women's right within Islamic law, say Talibans as US, Russia start talks

Zabihullah Mujahid also said the Taliban wanted private media to 'remain independent,' but stressed journalists 'should not work against national values.'
Hundreds of people gather outside the international airport in Kabul, Afghanistan. (Photo | AP)
Hundreds of people gather outside the international airport in Kabul, Afghanistan. (Photo | AP)

KABUL: A Taliban spokesman promised Tuesday that the insurgents who overran Afghanistan in recent days would respect women's rights and would not exact revenge, seeking to calm a wary population and skeptical world powers.

In his first news conference, Zabihullah Mujahid, who had been a shadowy figure for years, doubled down on the Taliban's efforts to convince the world that it has changed from the group that imposed a brutal rule on the country in the 1990s.

Mujahid promised the Taliban would honor women's rights, but within the norms of Islamic law.

He said the group wanted private media to "remain independent," but stressed journalists "should not work against national values."

And he promised the insurgents would secure Afghanistan, but seek no revenge against those who worked with the former government or with foreign governments or forces.

"We assure you that nobody will go to their doors to ask why they helped," he said.

Following a blitz across Afghanistan that saw many cities fall to the insurgents without a fight, the Taliban have sought to portray themselves as more moderate than when they last ruled.

Earlier, Enamullah Samangani, a member of the Taliban's cultural commission, promised amnesty and encouraged women to join the government.

But many Afghans remain skeptical.

Older generations remember the Taliban's ultraconservative Islamic views, which included severe restrictions on women as well as public stonings and amputations before they were ousted by the U.S-led invasion following the Sept.11, 2001, terror attacks.

The capital of Kabul remained quiet for another day as the Taliban patrolled its streets and many residents stayed home, remain fearful after the insurgents' takeover saw prisons emptied and armories looted.

Many women have expressed dread that the two-decade Western experiment to expand their rights and remake Afghanistan would not survive the resurgent Taliban.

Germany, meanwhile, halted development aid to Afghanistan over the Taliban takeover.

Such aid is a crucial source of funding for the country, and the Taliban's efforts to project a milder version of themselves may be aimed at ensuring that money continues to flow.

While the Taliban pledged not to go after their enemies, fighters have lists of people who cooperated with the government and are seeking them out.

A broadcaster in Afghanistan said she was hiding at a relative's house, too frightened to return home much less return to work following reports that the insurgents are also looking for journalists.

She said she and other women didn't believe the Taliban had changed their ways.

She spoke on condition of anonymity because she feared for her safety.

Samangani addressed the concerns of women, saying they were "the main victims of the more than 40 years of crisis in Afghanistan."

"The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan is ready to provide women with environment to work and study, and the presence of women in different (government) structures according to Islamic law and in accordance with our cultural values," he said.

That would be a marked departure from the last time the Taliban were in power, when women were largely confined to their homes.

Samangani didn't describe exactly what he meant by Islamic law, implying people already knew the rules.

In another sign of the Taliban's efforts to portray a new image, a female television anchor on the private broadcaster Tolo interviewed a Taliban official on camera Tuesday in a studio — an interaction that once would have been unthinkable.

Meanwhile, women in hijabs demonstrated briefly in Kabul, holding signs demanding the Taliban not "eliminate women" from public life.

Rupert Colville, a spokesman for the United Nations' high commissioner for human rights, noted both the Taliban's vows and the fears of everyday Afghans.

"Such promises will need to be honored, and for the time being, again understandably, given past history, these declarations have been greeted with some skepticism," he said in a statement.

"There have been many hard-won advances in human rights over the past two decades. The rights of all Afghans must be defended."

Germany suspended development aid to Afghanistan, estimated at 250 million euros ($294 million) for 2021.

Other funding separately goes to security services and humanitarian aid.

Sweden indicated it would slow aid to the country, but Britain committed to an increase.

British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said humanitarian aid could rise by 10%.

He said the aid budget would be reconfigured for development and humanitarian purposes and that the Taliban would not get any money previously earmarked for security.

Meanwhile, Kabul's international airport, the only way out for many, reopened to military evacuation flights under the watch of American troops.

All flights were suspended on Monday when thousands of people rushed the airport, desperate to leave the country.

In shocking scenes captured on video, some clung to a plane as it took off and then fell to their deaths.

At least seven people died in chaos at the airport, U.S. officials said.

Stefano Pontecorvo, NATO's senior civilian representative to Afghanistan, posted video online Tuesday showing the runway empty with U.S. troops on the tarmac.

Still, there were indications that the situation remained tenuous.

The U.S. Embassy in Kabul, now operating from the airport, urged Americans to register online for evacuations but not come to the airport before being contacted.

The German Foreign Ministry said a first German military transport plane landed in Kabul, but it took off with only seven people on board due to continued chaos.

Another left later with 125 people.

By late Tuesday, the Taliban entered the civilian half of the airport, firing into the air to drive out around 500 people there, said an Afghan official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to brief journalists.

Across Afghanistan, the International Committee of the Red Cross said thousands had been wounded in fighting as the Taliban swept across the country in recent days, ahead of the planned withdrawal of the last American troops at the end of the month.

As U.S. President Joe Biden did, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg blamed the swift collapse of the country on a failure of Afghan leadership.

But he added that the alliance must also uncover flaws in its effort to train the Afghan military.

Talks continued Tuesday between the Taliban and several Afghan government officials, including former President Hamid Karzai and Abdullah Abdullah, who once headed the country's negotiating council.

Discussions focused on how a Taliban-dominated government would operate given the changes in Afghanistan over the last 20 years, rather than just dividing up who controlled what ministries, officials with knowledge of the negotiations said.

They spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss confidential details of the talks.

A top Taliban leader, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, arrived in Kandahar on Tuesday night from Qatar.

His arrival may signal a deal is close at hand.

But in a possible complication, the vice president of the ousted government claimed on Twitter Tuesday that he was the country's "legitimate" caretaker president.

Amrullah Saleh said, under the constitution, he should be in charge because President Ashraf Ghani has fled the country.

The Russian ambassador to Afghanistan said he had a "constructive" and "positive" meeting with Taliban representatives in Kabul to discuss security for the Russian diplomatic mission.

Tuesday's meeting was announced the day before by the Kremlin envoy on Afghanistan, Zamir Kabulov, who also said the Taliban has already started guarding the outside perimeter of the Russian embassy.

Ambassador Dmitry Zhirnov told Russian state TV Tuesday that the meeting was "dedicated exclusively to the security of the embassy" and involved "senior Taliban representatives in the city who were accepting the surrender of the remnants of the self-disbanded Afghan national security forces."

"The meeting was positive and constructive," Zhirnov said.

"The Taliban representatives said the Taliban has the friendliest. approach to Russia. They confirmed guarantees of security for the embassy."

Russia designated the Taliban a terrorist organization in 2003, but has since hosted several rounds of talks in Afghanistan, most recently in March, that involved the group.

Moscow, which fought a 10-year war in Afghanistan that ended with the Soviet troops' withdrawal in 1989, has made a diplomatic comeback as a mediator, reaching out to feuding Afghan factions as it has jockeyed with the US for influence in the country.

The Defence Department says US military commanders at the Kabul airport are in touch with Taliban leaders as they coordinate the evacuation effort of US citizens and Afghan allies.

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told reporters at a briefing on Tuesday that necessary interactions with Taliban leaders will continue as the US evacuates people.

He said there have been no new hostile encounters with Taliban fighters at the airport.

Asked whether US commanders had an agreement with the Taliban for safe passage to the airport of Afghan allies and others awaiting evacuation, Kirby said "There are interactions at the airport, by our commanders, with the Taliban leaders" outside the airport.

Officials hope the pace of evacuations will pick up so that as many as 9,000 people could be taken out of the country each day.

After their sweep into Kabul on Sunday and the takeover of the country, Taliban fighters are guarding Kabul airport's entry points and gates.

The banned Pakistani Taliban or the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) terror group has congratulated the Afghan Taliban on taking control of Afghanistan, describing it as a "victory for the whole Islamic world", according to a media report on Tuesday.

In the statement, TTP spokesperson Mohammad Khorasani reiterated the group's "allegiance to the Afghan Taliban leadership," and pledged to "support and strengthen the Islamic Emirates of Afghanistan."

"It is a victory for the whole Islamic world," according to an official statement issued by the TTP and released to CNN.

Taliban insurgents captured Kabul on Sunday after the US-backed Afghan government collapsed and President Ashraf Ghani fled the country, bringing an abrupt end to a two-decade campaign in which America and its allies had tried to transform the war-ravaged nation.

The Pakistani Taliban's main leadership has long operated out of Afghanistan and has been behind some of the worst terrorist attacks in Pakistan.

In a statement released by Pakistan's national security committee on Monday, a request was made that "Afghan soil is not used by any terrorist organisation/group against any country."

A separate report also said that two border crossings between Afghanistan and Pakistan have been reopened, including a major transit point at Chaman.

A senior official, who spoke to CNN on the condition of anonymity as they are not authorised to speak for the government, said Pakistan and the Afghan Taliban agreed to keep the Chaman border open between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. daily.

The southern crossing located alongside the Afghan town of Spin Boldak was also reopened, but only those holding Pakistan or Afghanistan national identity cards were allowed to pass.

It was previously closed for two weeks.

The official, who was part of the team that spoke to the Taliban, said the militant group has asked that Afghans be allowed visa-free entry into Pakistan on humanitarian grounds.

Hundreds of Pakistanis and Afghan nationals crossed into Pakistan from the key border crossing of Chaman in southwestern Pakistan on Tuesday, witnesses and officials said.

However, they said that among these people were two suspected militants recently freed from the Pul-e-Charkhi and Bagram prisons by the Afghan Taliban.

It was unclear on what charges the two had been held by the Afghanistan government.

No government official was immediately available for comment, but authorities have said they are allowing in all Pakistanis and Afghans who were stranded in Afghanistan.

One such suspected militant, Abdul Qadoos, told The Associated Press that he spent six years at Pul-e-Charkhi Prison until the Taliban let them go after capturing the facility.

He refused to share any other details and only said that he was freed by the Taliban.

A second man, Hafiz Abdul Hadi, spent 10 years at Bagram Prison before his release by the Taliban, according to his close relative, Ameen Ullah, who was at the crossing to welcome him.

The relatives of the men held up Taliban when they welcomed them into Pakistan.

France evacuates dozens from Kabul overnight, Germany halts development aid to Afghanistan

France has evacuated several dozen people from Kabul in a military plane after the Taliban took power in Afghanistan.

The flight early Tuesday brought the evacuees to a military air base in Abu Dhabi, and several of the passengers were then sent back to France.

The French military did not say whether there were Afghan or other citizens among the several dozen people brought on the overnight flight.

France withdrew its last troops from Afghanistan in 2014 and has already evacuated more than 1,000 Afghans who supported French forces.

Images released by the military showed French troops checking their weapons and guarding the plane in the Kabul airport while others checked the documents of those boarding the flight.

President Emmanuel Macron promised Monday that France would not abandon Afghans who worked for the country, from translators to kitchen staff as well as artists, activists and others potentially under threat with the collapse of the Afghan government.

Germany has suspended its development aid to Afghanistan after the Taliban's takeover of the country.

German Development Minister Gerd Mueller told daily newspaper Rheinische Post on Tuesday that "the state-run development aid has currently been suspended."

Mueller added that all German and international employees of the German developmental agency GIZ had left the country and Germany was now trying to get local Afghan staff evacuated as well.

German news agency dpa reported that until now Afghanistan had been the country that received the most German developmental aid in world.

The agency reported that the German government had planned to give an estimated 250 million euros (USD 294 million) in developmental aid in 2021, but that money had not been paid out.

Other financial aid, not directly linked to the development aid, would have included support for police training or humanitarian aid.

It was not immediately clear how much of that aid had already been given to Afghanistan.

Dpa reported that altogether all German financial aid for Afghanistan would have added up to 430 million euros in 2021.

However, Denmark is giving 100 million kroner ($16 million) for Afghanistan to be channelled through the Red Cross and the United Nations as "the situation is expected to worsen in the near future".

Denmark's Foreign Aid Minister Flemming Moeller Mortensen called the situation "deeply worrying".

He added in a statement Tuesday: "Even before the Taliban took power, almost half of the population was dependent on humanitarian aid, and the situation is expected to worsen in the near future."

(With AP Inputs)

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