- Witnesses said three people were killed in an anti-Taliban protest in the Afghan city of Jalalabad.
- This was after the organization invaded the capital Kabul.
- The Taliban have pledged to ensure the rights of women and will not retaliate against their old enemies.
Witnesses said that at least three people were killed in an anti-Taliban protest in the Afghan city of Jalalabad on Wednesday as the militant group began to form a government and Western countries stepped up their evacuation from the chaotic Kabul airport. .
These deaths undermined the Taliban’s efforts to consolidate Islamic rule and their promise of peace after entering the capital. They stated that they will not retaliate against their old enemies and will respect women’s rights within the framework of Islamic law.
Witnesses said that Jalalabad’s death occurred when local residents tried to install the Afghan flag on a square in the city, about 150 kilometers (90 miles) from the capital, on the main road to Pakistan.
Timeline | Taliban occupy Kabul
Two witnesses and a former police official told Reuters that more than a dozen people were injured after Taliban militants opened fire on protesters in the eastern city.
A Taliban spokesperson could not be immediately reached for comment.
Thousands of Afghans, many of whom have helped foreign troops led by the United States in the past two decades, are eager to leave the country and people flock to the Kabul airport.
A Taliban official said that Taliban commanders and soldiers shot into the air on Wednesday to disperse the crowd outside the airport. “We have no intention of hurting anyone,” he told Reuters.
After Afghanistan’s President Ashraf Ghani left the country after Taliban militants seized control, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Gulf States said on Wednesday that he was in the United Arab Emirates.
A Western official told Reuters on Wednesday that approximately 5,000 diplomats, security personnel, aid workers and Afghans had been evacuated from Kabul in the past 24 hours.
He said that the evacuation of military aircraft will take place around the clock, adding that clearing the chaos outside the airport is a challenge.
“It’s absolutely busy and chaotic there,” the official said.
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Taliban leader and co-founder Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar (Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar) returned to Afghanistan for the first time in more than 10 years. A Taliban official said that these leaders will show themselves to the world. It’s not like they lived in secret in the past.
“Slowly, gradually, the world will see all our leaders,” a senior Taliban official told Reuters.
The Taliban’s first press conference since returning to Kabul indicated that they will enforce their laws more gently than during the harsh rule of 1996-2001.
Interpreter | How the Taliban planned the “political collapse” in Afghanistan
The main spokesperson of the Taliban, Zabihullah Mujahid, said that women will be allowed to work and study and “will be very active in society, but within the framework of Islam”.
During their reign, under the guidance of Islamic law, women were forbidden to work, girls were not allowed to go to school, and women had to wear full-length burks to go out.
Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations, Vassily Nebenzia, told reporters on Wednesday: “We will see what they will do and whether they will follow their statement.”
This screenshot from the Pajhwok video shows that the Afghan people protested that after the Taliban army took over Afghanistan in Jalalabad, the Afghan flag was replaced by the Taliban flag.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson responded to this comment and the comments of other Western leaders, saying that the Taliban will be judged based on their actions.
“We will judge this regime based on the choices it makes, its actions rather than its words, its attitudes towards terrorism, crime and drugs, as well as humanitarian access and girls’ right to education,” he told Parliament , Recalling this crisis debate from the summer recess.
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Many Afghans are skeptical of the Taliban’s promises. Some people said they can only wait and see.
“My family lives under the Taliban. Maybe they really want to change or have changed, but only time will prove everything, and it will soon become clear,” Ferishta Kari, who runs a seamstress shop Said Ferishta Karimi.
Mujahid said that the Taliban will not seek retaliation against former soldiers and government officials, and will pardon former soldiers, contractors and translators who work for international forces.
“No one will hurt you, no one will knock on your door,” he said, adding that there is a “huge difference” between the Taliban now and 20 years ago.
The Taliban occupied Kabul on Sunday because Western troops withdrew under an agreement that included the Taliban’s promise not to attack them when they left.
US President Joe Biden has faced a series of criticisms for withdrawing troops. He said that he must make a decision between asking the US military to fight endlessly or implementing the withdrawal agreement of his predecessor Donald Trump.
After thousands of frightened Afghans poured into the airport, the US military in charge of operating the airport initially had to stop the evacuation flights.
The British ambassador to Afghanistan said his team evacuated about 700 people on Tuesday.
When asked if the UK wants to take 1,000 people out of Afghanistan every day, Johnson’s spokesperson stated that their goal is to operate with this capability.
Germany has sent out 130 people, France said it has sent 25 nationals and 184 Afghans, and Australia said 26 people arrived on the first flight back from Kabul. Denmark said it has evacuated 84 people using military aircraft.
“Everyone wants to go out,” said an Afghan man who arrived in Frankfurt on a flight from Tashkent with his wife and son on Wednesday. “We saved ourselves, but we couldn’t save our family.”
