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The United States said Monday it would recognize a Taliban-led government in Afghanistan only if the Taliban respect women’s rights and reject terrorists.
Update 08/17/2021, 11:57 a.m.
The Taliban held their first press conference since their return to power. At his first press conference, the spokesman of the Taliban, Zabihullah Moujahid, as one might expect, wanted to reassure the inhabitants of Kabul, repeating that what he wrote multiple times on his twitter account, that “their safety is assured”. He also said that the Taliban declared a general amnesty to prevent further fighting and that they have “granted amnesty to everyone, there is no revenge” and that “no one will take it out. “To Afghans who have worked with the United States,” there is no danger for them “
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said no one would go to anyone’s house and people should make sure the Taliban forgave all those who were in the regime, or those who worked with US forces. pic.twitter.com/2iwQqSQj5F
— TOLOnews (@TOLOnews) August 17, 2021
On women’s rights, he said that they will be respected according to Sharia law and that women are part of society and therefore should work where they are needed. Regarding the media, Mujahid said that the Taliban wanted all media to continue to function. However, the media cannot publish or broadcast anything that contradicts Islamic values, it must be impartial, and no one can publish or broadcast anything that is against national interests. And he finally assured the international community that Afghanistan would not be used to carry out attacks against foreign countries.
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“Regarding our position vis-à-vis any future government in Afghanistan, it will depend on the behavior of that government. It will depend on the behavior of the Taliban, ”State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters.
“A future Afghan government that preserves the fundamental rights of its people […] including half of its population – its wives and daughters – “,” which does not offer refuge to terrorists “,” it is a government with which we could work “, he affirmed.
The spokesman also said that US envoy Zalmay Khalilzad was still in Qatar, where talks with the Taliban have been taking place for several months, and that US officials were still interacting with insurgents in the Gulf country.
“I would say some of these discussions have been constructive,” Ned Price said.
“But again, with the Taliban, we will observe their behavior rather than listening to them talk,” he said.
The US military also said it has been in contact with the Taliban over discussions over the status of Kabul airport, which US forces have secured as they attempt to airlift thousands of Americans and Afghans linked to the United States.
Meanwhile, Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken met separately on Monday with EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission Borrell, Secretary General of NATO Stoltenberg, Turkish Foreign Minister Çavuşoğlu and British Foreign Minister Raab on Afghanistan, including developments and our efforts to bring our citizens to safety and help vulnerable Afghans. The secretary expressed his deep gratitude for the efforts of the EU, NATO, Turkey and the UK in Afghanistan.
.@SecBlinken, EU High Representative @JosepBorrelF, NATO Secretary General @JensStoltenberg, Turkish Foreign Minister @MevlutCavusoglu, and UK Foreign Secretary @DominicRaab spoke separately today about developments in Afghanistan. https://t.co/GQhaPJzDFV
— Ned Price (@StateDeptSpox) August 17, 2021
Agreement to keep the airport open
A US defense official said yesterday that the head of the US Central Command (CENTCOM) had for his part met with senior Taliban leaders to urge them to urge their fighters not to interfere with the US military’s evacuation operations. at Kabul airport, reports the American agency Associated Press.
The official said that during this meeting on Sunday in Doha, Qatar, General Frank McKenzie obtained the agreement of the Taliban to establish a “deconfliction mechanism” – an arrangement by which evacuation operations at the airport can. to continue without interference from the country’s new leaders.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity because not authorized to discuss the matter publicly, said General McKenzie had urged the Taliban not to interfere with the evacuation and that the US military would react forcefully to defend the airport if necessary.
Kabul airport reopened Tuesday morning, Afghan time, after being closed for hours by US forces. The airport reopened at 7:35 p.m. GMT on Monday, said Major General Hank Taylor, a logistics specialist in the Pentagon’s office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Taylor said the United States was “in charge of air traffic control” for military and commercial flights. He added that there were currently around 2,500 American troops in Kabul to help organize the evacuation of Americans and Afghans who worked for them as translators and in other jobs.
The number of US troops at the airport is expected to rise to over 3,000 on Tuesday and to 6,000 in a few days. “Our goal right now is to maintain security at HKIA (Hamid Karzai International Airport), to continue to speed up air operations while protecting Americans and Afghan civilians,” Taylor said.
Kabul is slowly coming to life
The insurgents took Kabul on Sunday with surprising ease, days before the date set by Joe Biden for a complete withdrawal of American forces which must end after 20 years the longest war in American history.
President Ashraf Ghani, who a day earlier had spoken to Secretary of State Antony Blinken by telephone, fled his country on Sunday.
Spokesman Ned Price continued to refer to “President Ghani,” but declined to clarify whether the United States still recognizes the man as the rightful leader of Afghanistan.
“There has been no formal transfer of power,” Ned Price said.
Meanwhile, life slowly resumed its rights in Kabul on Tuesday under the new Taliban regime, even if the frightened residents remained on their guard, while in Washington President Joe Biden resolutely defended the withdrawal of American troops.
Shops had reopened in the Afghan capital, car traffic had resumed and people were once again taking to the streets, where police were in traffic, with the Taliban holding checkpoints, the report said today.France Media Agency. Few women, however, dared to risk themselves outside.
But there were also signs that life would no longer be that of yesterday. The men swapped their Western clothes for the shalwar kameez, the loose traditional Afghan dress, and state television now broadcasts mostly Islamic programs.
Since they entered Kabul on Sunday, after a meteoric offensive that in barely ten days allowed them to take control of almost the entire country, and that they took over the presidential palace, deserted by President Ashraf Ghani, on the run abroad, the Taliban have stepped up gestures of appeasement towards the population.
On Tuesday, they announced a “general amnesty” for all state officials, calling on everyone to resume their “life habits with full confidence” and tirelessly repeating that the situation in Kabul is under control, that under pain of severe punishment no one is allowed to enter the homes of former officials and threaten them and that only people involved in wrongdoing will be arrested.
The situation in Kabul is under control.
He has often arrested people who have been involved in mischief.
No one is allowed to enter the homes of former officials, demand cars from them and threaten them, they will be taken seriously, they are under serious persecution.– Zabihullah (..ذبــــیح الله م) (@ Zabehulah_M33) August 16, 2021
But despite assurances from the Taliban, some reports seemed to suggest they were continuing to search for government officials, with one witness saying men of their own entered the house of one of the officials to take him by force.
For many Afghans, trust will be hard to gain. When they were in power (1996-2001), the Taliban had imposed an ultra-rigorous version of Islamic law. Women could neither work nor study, and thieves and murderers faced terrible punishments.
“People are afraid of the unknown,” a merchant in the capital told the news agency on Tuesday. “The Taliban are patrolling the city in small convoys. They don’t bother anyone, but of course people are afraid ”.
And today, sweet irony, since the time we wondered what face he could have, this Tuesday at 4 p.m. at the Kabul Media Center, Zabihullah Moujahid, spokesperson for the Islamic Emirate (the official name of the Taliban now back in power), will hold its first press conference and invite media representatives and journalists to come to the Media Center, no doubt to try to give an air of normality to all this …
*With AFP
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