The Taliban held their first official news conference in Kabul on Tuesday since the shock seizure of the city, declaring they wanted peaceful relations with other countries and would respect the rights of women within the framework of Islamic law.
“We don’t want any internal or external enemies,” the movement’s main spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, said.
Mujahid, who until now had been a shadowy figure issuing statements on behalf of the militants, said women would be allowed to work and study and “will be very active in society but within the framework of Islam”.
The Taliban would not seek retribution against former soldiers and members of the Western-backed government, he said, insisting that “everyone is forgiven.” He added that the movement was granting an amnesty for former Afghan government soldiers as well as contractors and translators who worked for international forces.
Editorial: Taliban cannot expect to gain international recognition without reaching out to their former rivals
“Nobody is going to harm you, nobody is going to knock on your doors,” he said.
Mujahid stressed that Afghanistan would not allow itself to harbour anyone targeting other nations. That was a key demand in a deal the militants struck with the Trump administration in 2020 that led to the ultimate US withdrawal under current President Joe Biden.
He said private media could continue to be free and independent in Afghanistan, adding the Taliban were committed to the media within its cultural framework.
Mujahid’s conciliatory tone contrasted sharply with comments by Afghan First Vice President Amrullah Saleh, who declared himself the “legitimate caretaker president” and vowed that he would not bow to Kabul’s new rulers.
The Taliban news conference came as the United States and Western allies evacuated diplomats and civilians a day after scenes of chaos at Kabul airport as Afghans desperate to flee the Taliban thronged the terminal.
As they rush to evacuate diplomats and civilians from Afghanistan, foreign powers are assessing how to respond to the changed situation on the ground.
Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said the Taliban should allow all those who wanted to leave the country to depart, adding that Nato’s aim was to help build a viable state in Afghanistan.
There has been widespread criticism of the US withdrawal amid the chaotic scenes at Kabul airport.
German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said “the images of despair at Kabul airport shame the political West.”
Under last year’s US troop withdrawal pact, the Taliban agreed not to attack foreign forces as they leave.
Many Afghans have expressed the fear that the Taliban will return the country the brutal rule they used when last in charge, and foreign officials have said they will wait to see if the insurgents make good on their promises.
US military flights evacuating diplomats and civilians from Afghanistan restarted on Tuesday after the runway at Kabul airport was cleared of thousands desperate to flee.
US forces took charge of the airport — their only way to fly out of Afghanistan — on Sunday, as the militants wound up a week of rapid advances by taking over Kabul without a fight, 20 years after they were ousted by a US-led invasion.
The number of civilians had thinned out, a Western security official at the airport told Reuters. On Monday, US troops had fired warning shots to disperse crowds and people clung to a US military transport plane as it taxied for take-off.
At least 12 military flights had taken off, a diplomat at the airport said. Planes were due to arrive from countries including Australia and Poland to pick up their nationals and Afghan colleagues.
President Biden said he had to decide between asking US forces to fight endlessly or follow through on the withdrawal agreement negotiated by his predecessor.
“I stand squarely behind my decision,” Biden said. “After 20 years I’ve learned the hard way that there was never a good time to withdraw US forces.”
Facing criticism from even his own diplomats, he blamed the Taliban’s takeover on Afghan political leaders who fled and its army’s unwillingness to fight.
TALIBAN URGE WOMEN TO JOIN GOVERNMENT:
The Taliban have declared an “amnesty” across Afghanistan and urged women to join their government duty on Tuesday, trying to calm nerves across a tense capital city that only the day before saw chaos at its airport as people tried to flee their rule.
The comments by Enamullah Samangani, a member of the Taliban’s cultural commission, represent the first comments 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 armories looted. Older generations remember their ultraconservative Islamic views, which included stonings, amputations and public executions during their rule before the U.S-led invasion that followed the Sept. 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.
Meanwhile Tuesday, Stefano Pontecorvo, NATO’s senior civilian representative to Afghanistan, posted video online showing the runway empty with American troops on the tarmac. What appeared to be a military cargo plane could be seen in the distance from behind a chain-link fence in the footage.
The runway “is open,” he wrote on Twitter. “I see airplanes landing and taking off.”
Overnight, flight-tracking data showed a U.S. Marine Corps KC-130J Hercules plane at the airport and later taking off for Qatar, home to Al-Udeid Air Base and the U.S. military Central Command’s forward headquarters.
The German Foreign Ministry meanwhile said a first German military transport plane has landed in Kabul, but it could only take seven people on board before it had to depart again.
“Because of the chaotic conditions at the airport and regular exchanges of fire at the access point last night, it was not possible for further German citizens and other people who need to be evacuated to come to the airport without protection from the German army,” the ministry said.
Sweden’ s Foreign Minister Ann Linde wrote on Twitter on Tuesday that the staff from the Swedish Embassy in Kabul had returned to Sweden.
