Taliban urge women to join government
THE Taliban have declared an ‘amnesty’ across Afghanistan and urged women to join their government, trying to calm nerves across a tense capital city that only the day before saw chaos at its airport as people tried to flee.
The comments by Enamullah Samangani, a member of the Taliban’s cultural commission, represent the first on governance from a federal level across the country after their blitz across the country.
While there were no major reports of abuses or fighting in Kabul, many residents have stayed home and remain fearful after the insurgents’ takeover saw prisons emptied and armouries looted.
Older generations remember their ultra-conservative Islamic views, which included stonings, amputations and public executions during their rule before the US-led invasion that followed the September 11, 2001, terror attacks.
“The Islamic Emirate doesn’t want women to be victims,” Samangani
said, using the militants’ term for Afghanistan.
“They should be in government structure according to Shariah law.”
He added: “The structure of government is not fully clear, but based on experience, there should be a fully Islamic leadership and all sides should join.”
Samangani remained vague on other details, however, implying people already knew the rules of Islamic law the Taliban expected them to follow.
“Our people are Muslims and we are not here to force them to Islam,” he said.
Under the Taliban, which ruled with a harsh interpretation of Islamic law, women were largely confined to their homes.
The insurgents have sought to project greater moderation in recent years, but many
Afghans are sceptical.
Meanwhile, Nato secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg is blaming a failure of Afghan leadership for the swift collapse of the country’s armed forces – but says the alliance must also uncover flaws in its military training effort.
Mr Stoltenberg said ‘the Afghan political leadership failed to stand up’ and that ‘this failure of Afghan leadership led to the tragedy we are witnessing today.’
His remarks came after he chaired a meeting on Tuesday of Nato envoys to discuss the security implications of the Taliban’s sweeping victory in Afghanistan in recent weeks.
Nato has been leading international security efforts in Afghanistan since 2003 but wound up combat operations in 2014 to focus on training the national security forces. Referring to the way that the Afghan armed forces withered in the face of the Taliban offensive, Mr Stoltenberg said that ‘was a surprise, the speed of the collapse and how quickly that happened.’
He says ‘there are lessons that need to be learned’ at Nato.
Across Afghanistan, the International Committee of the Red Cross said thousands had been wounded in the fighting.
Security forces and politicians handed over provinces and bases without a fight, probably believing the two-decade Western experiment to remake Afghanistan would not survive the resurgent Taliban.
A resolute US President Joe Biden on Monday said he stood ‘squarely behind’ his decision to withdraw American forces and acknowledged the ‘gut-wrenching’ images unfolding in Kabul.
“After 20 years, I’ve learned the hard way that there was never a good time to withdraw US forces,” he said in a televised address from the White House.