Afghanistan: Taliban ‘use whips, sticks’ against women protesting new government
An Afghan woman has come face to face with a Taliban militant’s gun as crowds chanted “long live the resistance” during protests in Afghanistan.
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An Afghan woman has stared down the barrel of a Taliban fighter’s gun as chaos again erupted on the streets of Kabul.
The photo, which was posted online, came amid female-led protests in Kabul this week as the Taliban unveiled a new hardline male-only government.
Taliban fighters also reportedly used whips and sticks against a group of women protesting in Kabul.
It was reported that heavily armed extremists opened fire with machine guns to break up the march.
At the time, protesters — many of whom were women — were reportedly chanting for “freedom” as hundreds of people flooded the streets waving placards and the former flag of Afghanistan.
Some held signs declaring “No government can deny the presence of women” and “I will sing freedom over and over”.
Taliban forces have continued to face opposition after surging back to power — even as the group claimed to have crushed the final pocket of resistance in the Panjshir Valley.
Chaos erupted as the protesters chanted slogans such as “long live the resistance” and also took aim at neighbouring Pakistan, who some Afghans have accused of aiding the Taliban.
But, according to a report in The Sun, as people started to run to safety, footage emerged showing Taliban fighters armed with canes striking women who were taking part in a protest near a university.
Some women also held signs showing a pregnant police officer who was killed in Afghanistan earlier this week. The Taliban have denied involvement in her death, but told reporters they have launched an investigation.
The fighters also beat a number of journalists covering the demonstration, according to witnesses
One woman at Wednesday’s protest said: “We have gathered here to protest the recent announcement of the government where there are no women representation within this government.”
#Afghanistan🇦🇫.#Taliban try to stop women protesters in #Kabul's Dashti-E-Barchi. But these brave Afghan women are not scared of Taliban anymore and they continue their protest.
— Fazila BalochðŸŒºâ˜€ï¸ (@IFazilaBaloch) September 8, 2021
More power to women of Afghanistan✌. pic.twitter.com/0r5SPiYsJk
She said a few of the protesters were “hit with whips and they tell us to go to our homes and recognise and accept the Emirate. Why should we accept the Emirate while no inclusion or rights have been given to us?”
As she spoke, she held a poster saying: “A cabinet without women is a loser, a loser”.
She said a number of journalists who were covering the protest had been detained, and called for their release. “All those men who were here to carry out their duties as journalists were arrested. Why and how long should we put up with this?”
Another woman at the protest told reporters that the Taliban had “proved that they cannot change,” adding: “We are asking the international community, especially those who during the last 20 years tried to provide women with their rights, where are those defenders of women’s rights today?”
It came just one day after the institutions reopened with segregated classes.
And other footage showed a group of women in an underground car park, with Aamaj News Agency reporting they had been rounded up like cattle to stop them rejoining the march.
Other reports state the Taliban fighters also appeared to be taking pictures of female activists — sparking fears they may be compiling dossiers of people they consider troublemakers.
“The Islamic government is shooting at our poor people,” one panic-stricken woman on the street says over sounds of gunfire in an Iranian television news video clip posted on Twitter.
“These people (Taliban) are very unjust, and they are not human at all.”
‘THEY’RE TRYING TO IMPRISON US AGAIN’
Meanwhile, a female student in Afghanistan, going by the name Sahar, expressed her sadness and outrage during an interview on Fox News in the US, calling the Taliban a group of “savage puppets” who are once again trying to imprison women in the war-torn nation.
Her remarks come just over a week after the US completed its withdrawal of armed forces, a move that garnered significant bipartisan backlash for the Biden administration’s hasty strategy which left 13 service members dead.
“Well I am furious and saddened by what is happening,” said Sahar. “After all the challenges we have dealt with and issues within the national society of Afghanistan over decades and we have fought for generations to achieve what we have right now as females in society.”
Despite the Taliban claiming they will modernise and respect basic human rights, reports have surfaced over recent days questioning the validity of that assertion.
The Taliban are reportedly “hunting” anyone who has aided the US in the war over the last 20 years and going door-to-door to do so, according to a pregnant American woman who remains stranded in the country.
“Finally, in the past few decades we are finally able to study, work, speak up, and be considered individuals,” Sahar said. “However, now, after all, a group of savage puppets are trying to imprison us once again.”
“They are taking away the rights that we have gained through years of suffering and fighting. The situation isn’t bearable at all.”
The Taliban announced the interim government this week, and named Haqqani network leader Sirajuddin Haqqani the interior minister.
He is currently wanted by the FBI for his dealings with the terrorist network in the region, has a $US10 million ($A13 million) reward on his head, and is reportedly holding at least one American hostage.
The line-up of all-male government officials includes various actors with terror ties, including four individuals who were released from Guantanamo Bay during the Obama administration, and are reportedly holding posts ranging from defence and intelligence, to border and tribal affairs.
TALIBAN’S ‘HELLISH’ NEW GOVERNMENT
The Taliban has announced its hardline new government – packed with alleged terrorists with links to the September 11 attacks, killers and torturers.
The Taliban had promised an inclusive government that would reflect the ethnic make-up of the country, but all the top positions were handed to key leaders from the movement and the Haqqani network — the most violent branch of the Taliban known for devastating attacks.
“We will try to take people from other parts of the country,” spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said, adding that it was an “acting” government and not “final”.
Shortly after the new line-up was revealed, Hibatullah Akhundzada, the secretive supreme leader of the Taliban, who has never been seen in public, released a statement, saying that the new government would “work hard towards upholding Islamic rules and sharia law”.
“The new Taliban, same as the old Taliban,” tweeted Bill Roggio, managing editor of the US-based Long War Journal.
Mullah Yaqoob, the son of the Taliban founder and late supreme leader Mullah Omar, was named defence minister, while the position of interior minister was given to Sirajuddin Haqqani, the leader of the Haqqani network.
Taliban co-founder Abdul Ghani Baradar who oversaw the signing of the US withdrawal agreement will be a deputy to Hassan.
“It’s not at all inclusive, and that’s no surprise whatsoever,” said Michael Kugelman, a South Asia expert at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.
“The Taliban had never indicated that any of its cabinet ministers would include anyone other than themselves.”
On the FBI’s hit list of al-Qaida’s associates, Haqqani is considered a “specially designated global terrorist”.
The US Department of State is still offering a reward of up to $US5m ($A6.7m) for information leading to the Taliban hardman’s arrest, chillingly warning that he “should be considered armed and dangerous”.
Haqqani is wanted for questioning in connection with the January 2008 attack on a five-star hotel in Kabul that killed six people.
He is believed to have co-ordinated and personally taken part in deadly cross-border attacks against United States and coalition forces in Afghanistan.
Haqqani was also allegedly involved in planning the assassination attempt on Afghan President Hamid Karzai in 2008.
Reports warn the “Haqqani Network” enjoys close ties with foreign jihadist groups including a longstanding association with the late Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida – raising fears he’ll set out a path for the terror group’s return.
It’s believed to be behind the horrific September 12, 2011 attack on the US embassy and nearby NATO bases in Kabul, where eight people – four police officers and four civilians – were murdered.
Haqqani will be working alongside acting deputy PM Baradar, who allegedly masterminded roadside bombs that killed hundreds of foreign soldiers, according to a report in The Sun.
Baradar is also a high-ranking mullah who is a key player behind the Taliban’s brutal enslavement of women and beheadings.
He is considered one of the Taliban’s feared founders – who was a close associate of its founder Mullah Omar.
SUICIDE ATTACKS
Also on the team is Zabihullah Mujahid, the government’s acting deputy information minister.
He has regularly posted details of suicide attacks through his Twitter account.
The Taliban announced their new interim government on Tuesday local time, with a UN-black-listed veteran of the hard line movement in the top role.
Mullah Mohammad Hassan Akhund will serve as its new acting prime minister – but he’s on a UN blacklist for being “one of the most effective Taliban commanders”.
Also serving alongside him is Defence Minister Mohammad Yaqoob, son of the Taliban founder and late supreme leader Mullah Omar.
The Taliban’s secretive supreme leader on Tuesday ordered the newly appointed government to uphold sharia law.
It was his first message since the hard line movement swept to power, after claiming to have emerged victorious from its battle with the last pocket of resistance in Panjshir Valley.
“I assure all the countrymen that the figures will work hard towards upholding Islamic rules and sharia law in the country,” Hibatullah Akhundzada, who has never been seen in public, warned in a statement released in English.
Akhundzada told Afghans that the new leadership would ensure “lasting peace, prosperity and development”, adding that “people should not try to leave the country”.
“The Islamic Emirate has no problem with anyone,” he said.
“All will take part in strengthening the system and Afghanistan and in this way, we will rebuild our war-torn country.”
TALIBAN FIRES SHOTS TO BREAK UP PROTESTS
It comes as the Taliban fired shots in the air to disperse dozens of people protesting in Kabul against Pakistan’s involvement in Afghan affairs.
Around 70 people, mostly women, rallied outside the Pakistani embassy, holding banners and chanting against what they said was meddling by Islamabad.
The Islamists have yet to announce a government, but Afghans — fearful of a repeat of the group’s previous brutal reign between 1996 and 2001 — have staged small, isolated demonstrations in cities including the capital Kabul, Herat and Mazar-i-Sharif.
Pakistan’s intelligence chief Faiz Hameed was in Kabul at the weekend, reportedly to be briefed by his country’s ambassador but is likely to have also met with Taliban officials.
AFP staff witnessed Taliban members firing shots into the air to disperse the crowds.
The previous day, a small group of women in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif gathered in a protest for their rights.
Defiant women also came together in Herat last week demanding they be allowed to participate in the new government.
Tuesday’s demonstration comes after the Taliban claimed total control over Afghanistan a day earlier, saying they had won the key battle for the Panjshir Valley, the last holdout of resistance against their rule.
Following their lightning-fast victory in mid-August over the former Afghan government’s security forces and the withdrawal of US troops after 20 years of war, the Taliban turned to fighting the forces defending the mountainous Panjshir Valley.
As the Islamist hardliners claimed victory, their chief spokesman warned against any further attempts to rise up against their rule.
“Anyone who tries to start an insurgency will be hit hard. We will not allow another,” Zabihullah Mujahid said at a press conference in Kabul.
As they undertake a mammoth transition into overseeing key institutions and cities of hundreds of thousands of people, Mujahid said an interim government would be announced first, allowing for later changes.
Afghanistan’s new rulers have pledged to be more “inclusive” than during their first stint in power, with a government that represents the country’s complex ethnic makeup — though women are unlikely to be included.
Women’s freedoms in Afghanistan were sharply curtailed under the Taliban’s 1996-2001 rule.
This time, women will be allowed to attend university as long as classes are segregated by sex or at least divided by a curtain, the Taliban’s education authority said in a lengthy document issued on Sunday.
The Taliban are also grappling with looming financial and humanitarian crises
PREGNANT US WOMAN HUNTED BY TALIBAN
A pregnant American woman stranded in Afghanistan has said the Taliban is “hunting” Americans now that the US military has withdrawn from the country.
The woman, identified by her first name, Nasria, to protect her from reprisals, is among the up to 200 Americans still trapped in Afghanistan, according to a report in the New York Post.
“There’s been days, you know, where I think to myself, ‘Am I going to make it home? Am I going to end up living here? Am I going to end up dying here?’” Nasria told Voice of America in an interview recorded late last week.
She said after the US completed its military withdrawal on August 31, the Taliban began “hunting Americans.”
“Apparently, they’re going door to door now trying to see if anyone has a blue passport,” she told the outlet.
Nasria, 25, said she travelled to Afghanistan in June to visit family and marry her Afghan national husband but couldn’t get a flight out after the Taliban took over Kabul last month.
She described the chaotic scene in the streets around the Hamid Karzai International Airport as thousands of Afghans tried to flee and the perilous ordeal she and her husband went through trying to get a flight.
“It was so hard to just get on a flight,” Nasria, who is from California, said. “There was a couple days where we had to sleep on streets. People were literally stepping over people. That’s how bad it was.”
She said she eventually contacted the US State Department and was told to go to a specific area where they would be met and escorted to an evacuation flight.
At one point, they were moments away from entering the airport but the Taliban intervened.
“Our troops were literally at the gate just waiting for us to continue walking and they had blocked us,” Nasria said, adding that Taliban fighters refused to let her proceed despite showing them her passport.
“There was a time that like I went past them and started walking as fast as I can, and they started shooting right by my leg and told me to come back. If I was only 15 steps away from the airport, and I was told people are going to come out of the airport to get me. So what hope am I supposed to have now?” she said.
Her husband pleaded with the Taliban to allow her to leave the country alone, but she refused to leave without him.
“My child is going to need a father and I’m going to need a husband by my side,” Nasria said.
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