Afghanistan’s new Taliban rulers are dedicated in precept to schooling and jobs for women and girls, a marked departure from their earlier time in energy, and so they search the world’s “mercy and compassion” to assist hundreds of thousands of Afghans in determined want, a prime Taliban chief stated in a uncommon interview.
Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi additionally instructed The Associated Press that the Taliban authorities desires good relations with all nations and has no problem with the United States. He urged Washington and different nations to launch upward of $10 billion in funds that had been frozen when the Taliban took energy Aug. 15, following a speedy army sweep throughout Afghanistan and the sudden, secret flight of US-backed President Ashraf Ghani.
“Sanctions against Afghanistan would … not have any benefit,” Muttaqi stated Sunday, talking in his native Pashto through the interview within the sprawling pale brick Foreign Ministry constructing within the coronary heart of the capital of Kabul.
“Making Afghanistan unstable or having a weak Afghan authorities shouldn’t be within the curiosity of anybody,“ stated Muttaqi, whose aides embrace workers of the earlier authorities in addition to these recruited from the ranks of the Taliban.
Muttaqi acknowledged the world’s outrage on the Taliban-imposed limitations on ladies’ schooling and on girls within the workforce. In many components of Afghanistan, feminine college students between grades 7 and 12 haven’t been allowed to go to high school because the Taliban took over, and lots of feminine civil servants have been instructed to remain residence. Taliban officers have stated they want time to create gender-segregated preparations in faculties and the office to satisfy their extreme interpretation of Islam.
When they first dominated from 1996-2001, the Taliban shocked the world by barring women and girls from faculties and jobs, banning most leisure and sports activities, and sometimes finishing up executions in entrance of enormous crowds in sports activities stadiums.
But Muttaqi stated the Taliban have modified since they final dominated.
The overseas minister in Afghanistan’s new Taliban-run Cabinet, Amir Khan Muttaqi speaks throughout an interview to the Associated Press in Kabul, Afghanistan, Sunday, Dec. 12, 2021. (AP Photo/Mohammed Shoaib Amin)
“We have have made progress in administration and in politics … in interaction with the nation and the world. With each passing day, we will gain more experience and make more progress,” he stated.
Muttaqi stated that beneath the brand new Taliban authorities, ladies are going to high school by way of grade 12 in 10 of the nation’s 34 provinces, non-public faculties and universities are working unhindered, and 100% of girls who had beforehand labored within the well being sector are again on the job.“This exhibits that we’re dedicated in precept to girls participation,“ he stated.
He claimed the Taliban haven’t focused their opponents, as a substitute saying a basic amnesty and offering some safety. Leaders of the earlier authorities reside with out menace in Kabul, he stated, though most of them have fled.
Last month, the worldwide group Human Rights Watch printed a report that stated the Taliban summarily killed or forcibly disappeared greater than 100 former police and intelligence officers in 4 provinces. However, there have been no studies of large-scale retribution.
Muttaqi alleged the federal government that took energy after the US-led coalition ousted the Taliban regime in 2001 carried out widespread revenge assaults towards the Taliban. Hundreds disappeared or had been killed, with hundreds fleeing to the mountains, he stated. The Taliban had been ousted for harboring al Qaida and Osama bin Laden for masterminding the 9/11 terrorist assaults within the US.
Muttaqi insisted poverty and the dream of a greater life _ not concern _ drove hundreds of Afghans to hurry to Kabul’s airport in mid-August in hopes of attending to America. The crush of individuals had generated searing pictures of males clinging to a departing American C-17 plane, whereas others fell to the bottom because the touchdown gear retracted.
He stated the Taliban have made errors of their first months in energy and that “we are going to work for extra reforms which may profit the nation.“
He didn’t elaborate on the errors or doable reforms.
Muttaqi pushed again towards feedback by US Marine Gen. Frank McKenzie who instructed the AP final week that al-Qaida has grown barely in Afghanistan since US forces left. McKenzie is Washington’s prime army commander within the Middle East.
In a February 2020 deal that spelled out the phrases of the US troop withdrawal, the Taliban had promised to combat terrorism and deny terrorist teams a protected haven.
Muttaqi stated Sunday that the Taliban have saved that promise, together with a pledge to not assault US and NATO forces within the remaining section of the withdrawal, which led to late August.
“Unfortunately, there are (always) allegations against the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, but there is no proof,” Muttaqi stated. “If McKenzie has any proof, he should provide it. With confidence, I can say that this is a baseless allegation.” Meanwhile, militants from the Islamic State group have stepped up assaults on Taliban patrols and non secular minorities previously 4 months. The IS affiliate in Afghanistan has focused Shiite mosques within the provincial capitals of Kunduz and Kandahar, finishing up frequent assaults on Taliban autos.
Muttaqi, nevertheless, stated the Taliban have gained the higher hand in latest weeks, saying there had not been a significant assault within the final month. Washington’s means to trace IS actions in Afghanistan has been handicapped because the US withdrawal.
Muttaqi stated he doesn’t envision cooperating with the US within the battle towards the Islamic State group.
However, he did categorical hope that with time, “America will slowly, slowly change its policy toward Afghanistan” because it sees {that a} Taliban-ruled nation standing by itself is a profit to the US.
“My last point is to America, to the American nation: You are a great and big nation, and you must have enough patience and have a big heart to dare to make policies on Afghanistan based on international rules and relegation, and to end the differences and make the distance between us shorter and choose good relations with Afghanistan,” he stated.