The Taliban’s efforts to legitimise their rule over Afghanistan got deferred by a day, even as billboards informing about the formation of government, led by Taliban co-founder Mullah Baradar, cropped up all over Kabul on Friday.
In Panjshir valley, the last stronghold of the resistance forces, the stalemate continued. The Taliban have called on the rebels to lay down their arms and negotiate a settlement. However, former vice president Amrullah Saleh, who is holed up in Panjshir, has accused the insurgent group of war crimes and human rights violations.
Meanwhile, Afghan women banded together and staged another protest demanding their right to education and employment. On the other hand, many women judges, prosecutors, police officers and activists are living under constant threat from men whom they had sent to jail, now set free by the Taliban.
For those desperate to flee the Taliban regime, one of the few remaining ways out of the country — Torkham, on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border — is being squeezed tight by Pakistani authorities who are clamping down on border movement.
1. The Taliban are all set to form a government in Afghanistan on Saturday, a day later than what was initially forecast. According to reports, Taliban co-founder Mullah Baradar will lead the new government. The Ministry of Information and Culture has put up hoardings, writing slogans on walls and hoisting flags in Kabul ahead of the announcement and top Taliban leaders have gathered in the city, a spokesperson for the insurgent group told Reuters.
2. In the wake of intense clashes between the Taliban and the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan in Panjshir valley, former president Hamid Karzai has called for an end to fighting and appealed to both sides to resolve their differences through dialogue. In a series of tweets, Karzai said war was not in the interests of Afghanistan or its people, and it only causes more pain and suffering.
3. Deposed vice president Amrullah Saleh shed light on the alleged “war crimes” committed by the Taliban in the days since seizing control of Afghanistan and demanded UN action against the militant group. Saleh claimed the Taliban had forced Panjshir men to walk across minefields and locked the supply of medicines and humanitarian services to the province. He also denied reports that he had fled the country, asserting that he was in Panjshir valley with other leaders of the resistance forces.
4. A small group of Afghan women took to the streets in Kabul demanding equal rights from the Taliban. Carrying microphones and placards, the women protesters sought access to education, the right to return to work and a role in governing the country. The protest in Kabul was the second women’s protest in as many days, with the other held in the western city of Herat.
5. With air traffic closed, Torkham on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, has long been the busiest between the two countries, but since last month has seen a sharp dip in pedestrian crossings as tight controls have been imposed by Pakistani authorities. Average daily crossings at Torkham slumped to just 85 in August, against 7,000-8,000 in March and April.
6. Afghanistan has around 250 women judges. A few were able to flee in recent weeks, but most were left behind and are still trying to get out. But with the Taliban releasing prisoners across the country, their lives are in jeopardy. Freed prisoners are calling with death threats to women judges, women prosecutors and women police officers, saying “we will come after you”.
7. In their desperation to escape living under the harsh Sharia law imposed by the Taliban, many women were forced to get married right outside the Kabul airport to make them eligible for evacuation to the United States, a CNN report stated. While they may have fled persecution by the Taliban, such extreme steps put these women at risk of human trafficking.
8. A Taliban spokesperson has claimed that they “have the right” to speak “for Muslims in Kashmir”. “We have this right, being Muslims, to raise our voice for Muslims in Kashmir, India, and any other country,” Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen told BBC Urdu. The remarks came days after Taliban leadership said they wanted a cordial relationship with India and Pakistan.
9. Much of the world has adopted a wait-and-see approach to engagement with the Taliban as they shift gears from Islamist insurgent group to governing power. But China has promised to keep its embassy in Afghanistan open and to increase humanitarian aid to the war-ravaged country, a Taliban spokesperson has said. However, Beijing is yet recognise the Taliban as the de facto government.
10. With many frantic Afghans waiting to flee Afghanistan’s new Taliban leaders, experts are racing to reopen Kabul’s airport but it is not yet clear when flights would resume, Qatar’s foreign minister Mohammad bin Abdulrahman Al Thani has said. A team of Qatari and Turkish technicians flew to Kabul on Wednesday to help restart operations at the facility but it remains to be seen if any commercial airlines will be willing to offer service.
