Taliban pledge amnesty ‘for all’ as thousands flee Afghanistan

The Taliban pledged on Tuesday to protect the rights of women within the limits of Islamic law and grant amnesty to its opponents, as they sought to strike a moderate tone days after seizing control of Afghanistan.

In the Islamist group's first official press conference since they took Kabul, Zabihullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesman, said the militants would not seek revenge against government officials or the Afghan soldiers it has fought for the past two decades.

Women could work and study and “will be very active in society but within the framework of Islam,” he said at the televised briefing.

Mr Mujahid spoke as a delegation led by Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, Taliban co-founder and political chief, arrived in the southern city of Kandahar, a stronghold of the Islamists, from Qatar on Tuesday evening.

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Mullah Baradar, a strategist known for his pragmatism, is expected to be named as a senior figure in the Taliban’s new government in the coming days.

The Islamist group’s effort to reassure Afghans came as evacuation flights resumed from the capital, following chaotic scenes at the airport on Monday when thousands of panicked residents mobbed aircraft to escape the country.

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said the pace of evacuations would now pick up and could reach between 5,000 and 9,000 people a day.

Irish officials were on Tuesday trying to secure places on the military transports of other countries to ensure the evacuation of Irish citizens in Afghanistan.

It is hoped that the small number of Irish citizens who wish to leave the country will be able to do so in the coming days, but the evacuation and transport to Ireland of Afghan refugees is expected to take longer, with many expected to make their way out of the country through Pakistan.

EU foreign ministers have signalled that the bloc will engage with the Taliban but continuing aid will be conditional on the protection of fundamental rights by the new government in Kabul.

In a statement agreed at an emergency meeting on Tuesday evening, ministers said they would continue aid to Afghanistan but only if the Taliban do not repeat the severe repression they imposed when they last governed the country.

The Taliban ruled Afghanistan from 1996-2001 and imposed a brutal interpretation of Islam that largely extinguished women’s rights and deployed cruel punishments, including public executions and amputations.

Since retaking power at the weekend, following the US decision to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan 20 years after it removed the Taliban from power, the Islamist group has sought to strike a more moderate public tone, declaring an amnesty “for all” and encouraged citizens and public officials in Kabul to return to work.

But several government workers in the city said they or their families had already been harassed, despite the Taliban forbidding their fighters from entering houses.

“I was beaten up by the Taliban after waiting in the airport and the flight did not come,” one government worker said. “We got stuck in traffic coming back, they caught us, beat us, took everything, my money, my laptop, my documents.”

“They took my car from home, it was really a nightmare,” he added. “They are taking everything from the government, they say it belongs to us now.”

Having declared that the war was over, Taliban leaders have pledged to create an “inclusive” Islamic government, although there have been few details on how it would be structured or the substance of talks with Kabul’s political leadership.

The Taliban have made repeated assurances that they want normal life to resume in Kabul but some banks, markets and government offices remained closed. – Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2021