Taliban demands ‘leave Afghan talent here’

The Taliban has warned Western forces not to take ‘Afghan experts’ out of the country.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid during a press conference in Kabul on Tuesday. Picture: AFP

The Taliban has warned Western forces not to take “Afghan ­experts” out of the country as they scramble to evacuate foreign ­nationals, visa holders and a generation of Afghan professionals before next Tuesday’s deadline.

At its second press conference in Kabul since the Islamist insurgents seized Afghanistan’s capital and declared victory over the ­civilian government, spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told evacuating forces to “stop this process” and said only foreigners would be allowed to reach Kabul airport in coming days.

“We are not in favour of allowing Afghans to leave,” Mujahid said. “This country needs their ­expertise. They should not be taken to other countries.

“Do not encourage our engineers, our doctors, our military. We need them.”

The warning has only heightened panic inside the city where tens of thousands of people are still trying to escape amid reports of ­violent reprisals against those who worked for the Afghan administration or foreign governments, even as the Taliban has repeatedly guaranteed their safety.

UN human rights chief ­Michelle Bachelet told an emergency Human Rights Council session on Tuesday that she had received credible reports of “summary executions” of civilians and surrendered Afghan security forces by the Taliban, restrictions on women’s free movement and on girls’ right to attend school.

“A fundamental red line will be the Taliban’s treatment of women and girls,” she said.

Afghan women and girls are among the most fearful for their future under the Taliban, which banned girls from education and most women from leaving their houses unchaperoned when it last controlled the country until its ouster by US forces in late 2001.

Thousands of female professionals and activists have already fled the country, though millions more face a life of oppression under the new extremist regime that on Tuesday night instructed all working women to stay home until the security situation improved.

“Our security forces are not trained (in) how to deal with women – how to speak to women (for) some of them. Until we have full security in place. we ask women to stay home,” Mujahid said, adding female civil servants’ salaries would be sent to them.

Afghan women old enough to remember the last era of Taliban rule have heard that before and would be sceptical of those restrictions ever being lifted, says Human Rights Watch associate director of women’s rights Heather Barr.

“But the excuse this time – that the Taliban can’t control their own fighters – adds another layer of insult,” Ms Barr told The Australian.

“Either the Taliban genuinely can’t control their ranks, in which case it becomes even harder to see how they can run a country, or they don’t choose to because it’s convenient to put out propaganda for the international community while turning a blind eye to their own abuses.”

One female activist stuck in Kabul, whose women’s livelihoods organisation has already been shut by the Taliban, said her heart sank when she heard that statement.

“Afghan women don’t work just for the money. We want to be part of society,” she said.

More than 70,000 people have been evacuated from Kabul since August 14, but aid groups have warned millions left behind face a high risk of starvation, disease and persecution.

They are calling for $200m in international food aid donations.  “There’s a perfect storm coming because of several years of drought, conflict, economic deterioration, compounded by Covid,” World Food Program executive director David Beasley said.

“The number of people marching towards starvation has spiked to now 14 million.”

With the withdrawal deadline still five days away, US, British and French officials have all conceded evacuations will slow to a trickle by the weekend to allow time for an orderly withdrawal of equipment and thousands of troops.

The French government’s evacuations will end on Thursday night after US President Joe Biden rebuffed appeals from fellow G7 member states on Tuesday for him to push for an extended deadline.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson insisted the UK would continue evacuating “until the last moment”, though British military sources have said their civilian airlift would end by the weekend.

Australia’s evacuation effort is also expected to wind down by then.

Facing sustained criticism from both sides of congress over his botched handling of the withdrawal, Mr Biden has said the risk of an Islamic State attack on the airport was now “very high” and “the sooner we can finish, the better”.

“Each day of operations brings added risk to our troops,” he said.

While some US congressmen and women have called for the government to ignore the deadline, US Defence officials have warned of a potentially dire scenario in which Western forces ­inside Kabul airport are vulnerable to attack by thousands of battle-hardened Taliban troops.

A G7 statement issued on Wednesday warned Afghanistan must never again become a safe haven for terrorism or a centre for narcotic production and trafficking, and that the Taliban government would be judged “by their actions, not words”.

“In particular, we reaffirm that the Taliban will be held accountable for their actions on preventing terrorism, on human rights in particular those of women, girls and minorities and on pursuing an inclusive political settlement in Afghanistan,” the G7 said.

“The legitimacy of any future government depends on the ­approach it now takes to uphold its international obligations and commitments to ensure a stable Afghanistan.”