In a bid to reassure Afghans, the Taliban makes five promises. Two decades after US troops forced the Taliban to leave the Afghanistan Capital; the militants recaptured Kabul last week.
This astonishing power move took less than a month. The militants streamed across Afghanistan and were at the Capital gates in just ten days.
A year after the US signed a peace deal with the Taliban in February 2020 – where the US agreed to free 5,000
Taliban prisoners and withdraw their troops while the Taliban militants decided to take measures to prevent al-Qaeda or any militant group from using Afghanistan to intimidate the US or its allies – President Biden announced his decision to pull back all American forces on April 2021.
At the heels of the withdrawal of the US troops, Taliban militants swept across Afghanistan and toppled the government.
Situating themselves as the power in Afghanistan Taliban, the Taliban’s chief spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, was seen in public for the first time.
On Tuesday, he held a press conference in the same room where the overturned government had just held a news briefing days earlier.
During the press conference, Mr Mujahid said, “We do not want Afghanistan to be a war zone again – from today onwards, the war is over.”
To reassure scared Afghans, they made five promises:
1) Some rights for women
In the press conference, Mr Mujahid said that they are “committed” to women rights. Mr Mujahid also said that there would be no violence against them.
During their previous reign, women were not allowed to work, study or even step out of their homes without covering themselves completely and a male relative as a chaperone.
This time around, they will allow women to work and study as long as it is within Islamic law.
2) Forgiveness to opposers
With their government overturned, thousands of Afghans have tried to flee their country due to the Taliban’s previous track record.
To reassure the fearful Afghans and restore peace, they announced that all who fought against them would be forgiven.
However, many are still sceptical as reports of surrendering civilians and forces being murdered have come through.
3) No harm to foreign personnel
Despite having a poor record of their actions against foreign personals, they are quick to assure foreign governments and organizations that their ambassadors, offices and staff are safe.
4) Will prevent al-Qaeda or other militants to use Afghanistan to terrorize other countries
As per the peace treaty signed with the US in 2020, the Taliban have assured that no militant groups will be allowed to operate out of Afghanistan, mainly to threaten the US or its allies security.
Nevertheless, the US has blocked the Taliban from accessing any and all government assets held by them.
5) End of the narcotics industry
Afghanistan is one of the world’s biggest narcotics producers and suppliers. Taking this into account Taliban has announced that they will put an end to this industry.
Many are speculative of this announcement as narcotics is the Taliban’s most significant source of revenue.
According to last year’s estimates, the UN reported profiting by hundreds of millions of dollars through drugs alone.
Despite these claims made by the Taliban, many remain unconvinced of their new face. This is given more strength as many conflicting reports keep streaming in.
