We’ll protect women - but only under sharia vows Taliban

Taliban promises to protect women come with a catch, as it also vows to pardon Afghan soldiers and government workers.

The Taliban has vowed to pardon Afghan soldiers and government workers, protect women’s rights under sharia law and to have a “narcotics-free’’ and terrorist-free nation as it revealed its public face to the country.

In their first press conference after the return to the country of Taliban co-founder, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar who arrived back in Kandahar from Qatar, the organisation’s leaders insisted it would not harbour terrorists and that the current Taliban leadership was “hugely different’’ from the Taliban of the 2000s.

“We don’t want to see any kind of chaos in Kabul. I want to assure the international community including the US that nobody will be harmed in Afghanistan,” said the group’s spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid, stressing foreign embassies and aid agencies had nothing to fear.

Mr Mujahid reiterated that Afghanistan would have a strong Islamic government but would not allow foreign terror groups to use the country as a base.

‘What the name and makeup will be, let’s leave that to political leaders. I can assure you it will have strong Islamic values,” Mr Mujahid said.

“We want to reassure that Afghanistan will not be used against anybody”.

The 45 minute press conference, which included foreign and local journalists, revealed a Taliban leadership ostensibly keen to break with the extremist past that had fuelled the September 2001 attack on New York, which in turn had drawn the US into the country for a 20 year war.

“When it comes to experience and maturity and vision of course there’s a huge difference between us now and 20 years ago,” the spokesman said.

“We managed to conquer the whole country in a matter of days but we’re not arrogant for this,” he added in remarks that mentioned the US surprisingly little.

However the organisation’s promises were met with widespread scepticism from the west.

US National Security adviser Jake Sullivan, speaking at the White House a few hours later, said the Taliban “would have to be watched and observed over time” as to whether it was “prepared to meet their obligations to the basic human rights and human dignity of people, to the safe passage of people, to the airport.”

“The Taliban have informed us that they are prepared to provide the safe passage of civilians to the airport, and we intend to hold them to that commitment,” he said.

The US President, who in July said he did not “trust” the Taliban, warned the nascent government on Monday it faced “devastating force” if it disrupted the evacuation of remaining US and related personnel, ahead of an acknowledgment by the state department later the US would recognise a Taliban government if it respected the rights of women and shunned terrorist groups such as al-Qa’ida.

“A future Afghan government that upholds the basic rights of its people, that doesn’t harbour terrorists and that protects the basic rights of its people including the basic fundamental rights of half of its population – its women and girls – that is a government that we would be able to work with,” State Department spokesman Ned Price had said.

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said the Taliban would be judged by their actions and whether the leadership follows through with claims that their opponents would be pardoned.

“What’s important is that this transition phase will be peaceful and that will depend on what the transition government actually does as soon as it’s in place, in terms of whether we can believe their statements,” Mr Maas said.

Germany has suspended all aid to Afghanistan while Canada and the UK have refused to acknowledge the Taliban’s authority.

Taliban co-founder Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar has returned to Afghanistan. Picture: AFP.

Amid fears the status of women in Afghanistan will be severely eroded and very young girls “married’’ off to Taliban fighters, Mr Mujahid claimed the Taliban was “committed to the rights of women under the system of sharia”.

He insisted: “They (women) are going to be working shoulder to shoulder with us. We would like to assure the international community that there will be no discrimination”. He said that women will be very active in society but within the framework of Islam.

He added if Afghan women “continue to live according to sharia, we will be happy, they will be happy”.

Women and girls suffered dreadfully under the previous Taliban government, including being stoned to death for adultery, and not being allowed to attend school or to work.

Mr Mujahid claimed that international media could continue to work in the country, but that “Islamic values should be taken into account when it comes to the activities of the media”.

He added the media “should not work against national values, against national unity”.

Mr Mujahid also tried to reassure the thousands of terrified Afghans who had flooded Kabul airport that they would not suffer any retribution and encouraged them to return to their homes. He spoke about an amnesty to soldiers who fought against the Taliban and to former government workers over the past 20 years.

“We are not going to revenge anybody, we do not have grudges against anybody,’’ he said.

‘We want to make sure Afghanistan is not the battlefield of conflict anymore. We want to grant amnesty to those who have fought against us”.

Mr Mujahid also claimed that the country wanted the economy to be revived, but using alternative crops to poppies and the heroin trade which makes up more than three quarters of the global supply of heroin.

“We saw a large number of our youths under the bridges next to the walls using narcotics; so unfortunate, I was so saddened to see these young people without faith in the future,” he said.

“From now on Afghanistan will be narcotics free country,” he added, pointing out the Taliban had in 2001 had clamped down on opium.

When asked if the Taliban would renounce terrorist group Al-Qa’ida, Mr Mujahid said the Taliban would not permit foreign fighters to use Afghanistan “against anybody”.

“I would like to assure the international community that nobody will be harmed,” he said, adding: “We do not want to have any problems with the international community.”

But in a sign of the ongoing differences, he said the Taliban would “act according to our religious principles”.

“Other countries have different approaches, rules and regulations … the Afghans have the right to have their own rules and regulations in accordance with our values,’’ he said.

Anthony Cordesman, a senior fellow at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, cautioned against taking any Taliban remarks at face value.

“This is a very regressive movement, it’s like someone suddenly dragged in from the 1500s, trying to go back to the days of the prophet,” he told The Australian.

“Almost certainly there are very pragmatic elements in what they are saying, but you are listening to the political people who are decoupled from the fighters,” he added.

Morrison: We can’t save them all from the Taliban

The hopes of up to 800 Australians and Afghan asylum seekers awaiting RAAF rescue flights in Kabul hinge on a tenuous compact between the Taliban and the US, which regained control of the capital’s airport on Tuesday after days of chaos.

But Scott Morrison has warned his government will not be able to evacuate all locally engaged staff and their families who had helped Australia during its two-decade campaign in Afghanistan.

The concession came as senior Taliban figures opened negotiations with Kabul’s political leadership to form what the movement claimed would be an “inclusive Afghan government”.

But many continue to shelter in their homes amid fears about the fate of women and deadly retribution against government officials and those who backed foreign forces in other fallen Afghan cities.

About 640 Afghan evacuees on a US Air Force transport aircraft bound for Qatar on Tuesday. Picture: AFP

A day after terrified Afghans clung to military aircraft as they took off, US troops secured Kabul’s airport and resumed evacuation flights, giving Australian officials confidence RAAF aircraft would ultimately be able to land. Two C-17A Globemaster transporters departed Australia on Tuesday heading for the United Arab Emirates, joining an Australian KC-30A tanker that was due to support the wider US airlift.

US troops rushed hundreds of Afghans onto planes, with one transporter designed for 130 people carrying more than 640 passengers after its captain decided against forcing them off.

The Biden administration promised its rescue missions would continue for foreign citizens and at-risk Afghan nationals for as long as public servants at the airport remained safe.

The UN said that between 1.5 million and two million Afghans refugees could flee the country in coming months, while others warned of a fresh wave of Islamist terrorism in the West, and a surge in the global heroin trade.

Senior Australian officials said there were up to 200 Australians, permanent residents and their family members registered as wanting to evacuate the country.

The Department Home Affairs has a list of 400 to 600 Afghans – mostly former interpreters, Australian embassy staff and their families – who meet the criteria for humanitarian visas and are believed to be in Kabul.

A month after the government ruled out joining a US evacuation mission, the Prime Minister -defended the pace of his government’s efforts to get Afghan supporters out of Afghanistan.

Mr Morrison said he was optimistic that more would be rescued, on top of 430 brought to Australia since April 15. But, amid a Taliban campaign against those who helped foreign forces, Mr Morrison warned that some interpreters and support staff would remain stuck in Afghanistan.

“Despite our best efforts, I know that support won’t reach all that it should,” he said.

“On the ground, events have overtaken many efforts. We wish it were different.”

Home Affairs has reassessed the cases of all rejected locally engaged employee visa applications over the past three months, deciding in a quarter of previously rejected cases to grant the visa.

No adverse security rulings were overturned during the process, with Defence Minister Peter Dutton warning that the length of the conflict meant some former support staff had switched sides.

“I’m not bringing people to Australia that pose a threat to us or that have done us harm in Afghanistan, even if at a point earlier they had provided assistance to us,” Mr Dutton told Sky News.

Mr Morrison said his government had “no plans” to return Afghans currently in Australia on temporary protection visas.

Glenn Kolomeitz, a lawyer who has been providing pro-bono support for Afghans who worked for Australia, urged the government to provide visas for 707 Afghans, including 90 interpreters, 196 Australian embassy security guards, two Afghan journalists, and their family members.

Saad Mohseni, the Afghan-Australian chief executive of Afghanistan’s Moby Media group which runs Tolo Television, said it was vital for countries such as the US, Britain and Australia to remain engaged with the Taliban – not just to prevent further suffering of Afghan people but to protect their own interests.

“This is not just our problem, it’s everyone’s problem,” Mr Mohseni said. “Some (refugees) will end up in Indonesia and some will take the risk of trying to get to Australia. Some young radicalised Australians could end up in Afghanistan. Afghanistan exports a big chunk of the world’s heroin and if that continues you will also get your share.”

The Taliban’s stunning victory has sparked celebrations among regional militant groups including Jemaah Islamiah, the Indonesian terror organisation responsible for both Bali bombings and the 2004 attack on Australia’s Jakarta embassy.

Nasir Abbas, a former JI militant with ongoing links to the group, said jihadis across Indonesia – including former and current terror convicts – were “euphoric” at what they saw as a “win for the Islamic world”.

“They are exchanging pictures and memes celebrating this win,” he said. “They consider it as important as when ISIS won and feel proud that this group is fighting in the name of religion. If they have the chance to go to Afghanistan, they would go to share the victory.”

Joe Biden defended his decision to unconditionally withdraw all remaining US troops on Tuesday, even as he acknowledged the collapse of the Afghan government occurred much faster than his administration expected.

“I will not repeat the mistakes we have made in the past, of doubling down on a conflict that is not in the national interests,” the US President said.

“The political leaders of Afghanistan were unable to come together for the good of their people … It is wrong to order American troops to step up when Afghanistan’s own armed forces would not.”

The US State Department said Secretary of State Anthony Blinken had spoken to his Chinese and Russian counterparts over the situation in Afghanistan, amid concerns Moscow and Beijing could stymie an international consensus on isolating the Taliban should conditions worsen. The US has said it will only recognise a Taliban government if it respects the rights of women and shuns extremist movements.

Russia and China appear to be trying to cement ties with the Taliban regime. Beijing’s foreign ministry has said it is ready to deepen relations with the Islamist group and assist with development, while Russia’s envoy had a scheduled meeting with the Taliban security co-ordinator on Tuesday.