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Afghan militant group dares Taliban, vows to resist new govt

An Afghanistan militant group, the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan (NRF), has vowed to resist the new Taliban government if they refuse to embrace peace, saying it is ready to go to battle as they have enough men to take on the regime.

Speaking in an interview with the BBC on Monday, Head of Foreign Relations for NRF, Ali Nazary, said they were set for battle against the Taliban, stressing that no one would be allowed to conquer their land.

According to Nazary, they prefer peace through negotiation and if the Taliban fails to embrace peace, they would resort to using force.

“We prefer peace, we prioritise peace and negotiations. If this fails, if we see that the other side is not sincere, if we see that the other side is trying to force itself on the rest of the country, then we’re not going to accept any sort of aggression.

And we’ve proven ourselves, our track record in the past 40 years has shown that no one is able to conquer our region, especially the Panjshir Valley”, Nazary said.

The Taliban took over Kabul, the Afghanistan capital on August 15 after the United States withdrew its troops from the country and though they have been trying to form a new government, its fighters have been on the rampage, targeting citizens they believed had sympathy for US and the fallen regime, as well as making drastic decrees that many international political analysts say would push the country into a state of anarchy.

Taliban implores Afghan women to join new Govt, pledges amnesty

A senior member of the Taliban on Tuesday announced a general “amnesty” for everyone in the country and urged women to join the government, days after the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan.

Enamullah Samangani, a member of the Taliban’s cultural commission, claimed on Afghan state television that women in Afghanistan had no reason to be afraid.

He said: “The Islamic Emirate doesn’t want women to be victims.” He added: “The structure of government is not fully clear, but based on experience, there should be a fully Islamic leadership and all sides should join.”

Samangani said that women “should be in the government structure according to Shariah law”.

Associated Press reported that this marked a departure from the last time the Taliban was in power when women were largely confined to their homes. And those who violated the Taliban’s rules faced flogging in public and execution.

In an earlier statement, the Taliban spokesperson Sohail Shaheen said that the reports of girls being sent home from schools in some parts of the country were not true.

Fawzia Koofi, a women’s rights activist and former lawmaker was quoted by NBC as saying “women in Afghanistan are the most at danger or most at-risk population of the country.”

Another Afghan woman, Nasreen Sultani, the principal of the Sardar-e-Kabuli Girls High School in Kabul was quoted as saying: “I am very sad. When I see all these girls, I get really upset now.”

She added: “I tried, but we couldn’t manage to make sure that women get out of this miserable situation,” Ms Sultani was threatened by the Taliban in the past.

It was also not clear what the Taliban meant by “amnesty”.

Other Taliban leaders have said that they won’t seek revenge on those who worked with the Afghan government or foreign countries, but there have been reports of recriminations already taking place.

Afghanistan faces massive uncertainty with the Taliban now in control of the country. Former president Ashraf Ghani fled the country on the day the group took over the presidential palace.

There was subsequent chaos and fear among many Afghan locals. Hundreds ran towards the international airport in Kabul and several clung to the wheels of a departing US military aircraft.

One disturbing video that was circulated online showed a few men falling to their death once the aeroplane took off.