Taliban pledge peace and women’s rights under Islam as they strike conciliatory tone

• Taliban vow not to retaliate against soldiers and contractors
• Taliban leader Baradar returns to Afghanistan
• The West resumes evacuations after the chaos at Kabul airport subsides
• Biden and Johnson agree to virtual G7 meeting on Afghanistan

KABUL, Aug 17 (Reuters) – The Taliban said Tuesday that they would like peaceful relations with other countries and respect women’s rights under Islamic law when they held their first official press conference since their lightning conquest of Kabul.

The Taliban announcements, which were few in detail but suggested a softer line than during their rule 20 years ago, came when the United States and Western allies were pushing the runway the day after the chaos at Kabul airport who resumed the evacuation of diplomats and civilians.

A White House official said military flights evacuated about 1,100 Americans from Kabul on Tuesday.

As they consolidated their power, the Taliban, one of its leaders and co-founders, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, said it was the first time they returned to Afghanistan in more than 10 years. Baradar was arrested in 2010 but released from prison in 2018 at the request of the administration of former US President Donald Trump to allow him to participate in peace talks.

“We don’t want enemies inside or outside,” said the movement’s main spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid.

Women are allowed to work and study and “will be very active in society but within the framework of Islam,” he added.

As they rushed to evacuate, foreign powers pondered how to react after Afghan forces melted in just a few days, which many had predicted a likely swift dissolution of women’s rights.

“If (the Taliban) want respect, if they want recognition from the international community, they have to be aware of the fact that we are going to watch how women and girls and, more broadly, civil society are treated by them, trying to establish a government form, “US Ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, told MSNBC on Tuesday.

US President Joe Biden and UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said they had agreed to hold a virtual meeting of the leaders of the Group of Seven next week to discuss a common strategy and approach to Afghanistan. Continue reading

During their rule from 1996 to 2001, which was also governed by Islamic Sharia law, the Taliban prevented women from working. Girls were not allowed to go to school and women had to wear an all-encompassing burqa to go out, and only when accompanied by a male relative.

The UN Human Rights Council will hold a special session in Geneva next week to address “serious human rights concerns” following the Taliban’s takeover, a UN statement said.

Ramiz Alakbarov, the United Nations humanitarian coordinator for Afghanistan, told Reuters in an interview that the Taliban had assured the United Nations that they could continue humanitarian work in Afghanistan, which is suffering from a drought. Continue reading

“GO THE CONVERSATION”

The European Union said that once the Taliban returned, it would only cooperate with the Afghan government if it respected fundamental rights, including those of women.

Taliban troops patrol Kabul, Afghanistan, 16 August 2021.REUTERS / Stringer

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Women in Afghanistan were skeptical.

Afghan girl education activist Pashtana Durrani, 23, was suspicious of the Taliban’s promises. “You have to give the speech. At the moment you are not doing that,” she told Reuters.

During the Taliban’s rapid advance into Afghanistan, several women were ordered to quit their jobs.

Mujahid said the Taliban would not seek retaliation against former soldiers and government officials and would grant amnesty to former soldiers and contractors and translators who worked for international forces.

“Nobody will harm you, nobody will knock on your door,” he said, adding that there was a “big difference” between the Taliban now and 20 years ago.

He also said that families who wanted to flee the country at the airport should return home and nothing would happen to them.

RESISTANCE AND CRITIC

The conciliatory tone of Mujahid contrasted with the statements made by the first Afghan Vice President, Amrullah Saleh, who declared himself the “legitimate caretaker president” and vowed not to bow to the new rulers of Kabul. Continue reading

It was not immediately clear how much support Saleh enjoys in a country that is tired of decades of conflict.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said the Taliban should allow all those who want to leave Afghanistan to leave. Continue reading

Democrat Biden’s decision to uphold his Republican predecessor Trump’s exit deal last year has sparked widespread criticism both domestically and among US allies.

According to a Reuters / Ipsos poll conducted on Monday, Biden’s approval rating fell 7 percentage points to 46%, the lowest of his seven-month presidency. It also turned out that less than half of Americans liked the way he treated Afghanistan. Continue reading

Biden said he had to choose whether to call on U.S. forces to fight endlessly or enforce Trump’s withdrawal agreement. He blamed the Afghan leaders who fled and the army’s unwillingness to fight for the Taliban’s takeover. Continue reading

Washington blocked the Taliban from accessing Afghan government funds in the United States, including about $ 1.3 billion in gold reserves with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, a Biden administration official said. Continue reading

Reporting by Kabul and other agencies; Additional coverage from Rupam Nair; Writings from Jane Wardell, Robert Birsel, Jane Merriman, Patricia Zengerle, and Lincoln Feast; Editing by Mark Heinrich and Peter Cooney

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.