Kabul: Taliban foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi, in his first press conference since Afghanistan’s new cabinet was named, said the government remains committed to its promises not to allow militants to use its territory to attack others. The presser comes as governments around the world search for indications on how it will rule. The US and its allies have pushed the Taliban not to repeat its harsh rule of the 1990s. Muttaqi gave little sign whether the Taliban will bend to the international pressure. He would also not say how long the interim government would be in place. He repeatedly insisted other countries must not interfere in Afghanistan’s internal issues, including in response to a question on whether elections would eventually be held.
He did, however, make the first confirmation by a member of the new government of its commitment to a deal last year with the US. Under the deal, the Taliban promised to break ties with al-Qaida and other militant groups and ensure they don’t threaten other countries from its territory.
Taliban deny their Dy PM killed
The Taliban have denied that one of their top leaders has been killed in a shootout with rivals, following rumours about internal splits in the movement nearly a month after its lightning victory over the Western-backed government in Kabul. Sulail Shaheen, a Taliban spokesman, said Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, former head of the Taliban political office who was named deputy prime minister last week, issued a voice message rejecting claims he had been killed or injured in a clash.
“He says it is lies and totally baseless,” Shaheen said in a message on Twitter. The Taliban also released video footage purportedly showing Baradar at meetings in the southern city of Kandahar. The footage could not be immediately verified.
The denials follow days of rumours that supporters of Baradar had clashed with those of Sirajuddin Haqqani, head of the Haqqani network that is based near the border with Pakistan and was blamed for some of the worst suicide attacks of the war. The rumours follow speculation over possible rivalries between military commanders like Haqqani and leaders from the political office in Doha like Baradar, who led diplomatic efforts to reach a settlement with the United States.
Women’s ministry shut down
Workers in the Afghan capital Kabul replaced signs for the country’s women’s ministry with those for the Taliban’s moral police, as female former employees of the department said they had been locked out of the building. A sign for the building was covered by a replacement in a mixture of Dari and Arabic, reading “Ministries of Prayer and Guidance and the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice,” according to photographs and witnesses. Female employees said they had been trying to come to work for several weeks only to be told to return to their homes, according to videos filmed outside the building. The gates of the building were finally locked, one of the women said. “I am the only breadwinner in my family,” said a second woman, who also said she worked in the department. “When there is no ministry, what should an Afghan woman do?” Taliban spokesmen did not respond to requests for comment.
When the Taliban were last in power from 1996-2001 girls were not allowed to attend school and women were banned from work and education. During that period its Ministry for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice became known as the group’s moral police, enforcing its interpretation of sharia that included a strict dress code and public executions and floggings.
