Top Taliban leader flies into Kabul for talks on setting up new Afghan regime
Abdul Ghani Baradar, one of the Taliban’s
top leaders, arrived in Kabul on Saturday as senior figures began talks on how
they will govern Afghanistan.
Baradar, one of the most public faces of
the Taliban who made his first return to Afghanistan in over a decade this
week, will be leading their efforts to build a model for governing the country
in the next few weeks.
Baradar negotiated the exit of US troops
with the former US president Donald Trump during peace talks in Dohar, Qatar,
and is likely to hold a senior role in the Taliban administration. All eyes are
on him to get a sense of how the Taliban intend to rule Afghanistan this time
round, and how closely they will resemble the oppressive regime of the past.
When the Taliban previously ruled
Afghanistan, from 1996 to 2001, it was under a shroud of secrecy, with their
leadership and inner workings kept out of public discussion and the country
governed through draconian Islamic laws, particularly concerning women, and
archaic punishments such as public executions.
At the talks held in the capital on
Saturday, Baradar met with militant commanders, figures from the ousted
government and religious scholars.
Since Kabul fell to their control on
Sunday, the Taliban have made efforts to portray themselves as civilised,
moderate rulers and pledged to build an “inclusive Islamic government” for
Afghanistan.
However, the first week of their rule has
been tainted by reports of the torture and killing of members of a minority
group, Taliban fighters going door-to-door looking for those who collaborated
with the US, Nato forces and western organisations, and the murder of the
relative of an Afghan journalist who had worked for the German broadcaster
Deutsche Welle. Many Afghans have also been killed in scenes of violence and
chaos at Kabul airport.
In recent days, some of the most notorious
members of the Taliban have returned to Kabul, including Khalil Haqqani, one of
the US’s most wanted terrorists with a $5m (£3.7m) bounty on his head.
According to a Taliban official, the
discussions on governance will continue for the next few weeks and there will
be separate groups to prepare how they will deal with internal security and
financial issues.
A Taliban official told Reuters the
Taliban’s “legal, religious and foreign policy experts” would be consulted,
while members of the previous government would be brought in for “crisis
management”. It is reported that the Taliban will not make official
announcements about the government until 31 August, the deadline set by the US
for the complete withdrawal of troops.
The Taliban, who follow an ultra-hardline
interpretation of Sunni Islam, have dismissed the possibility of a
western-style democracy in Afghanistan, but an official said their regime would
“protect everyone’s rights”.
Abdullah Abdullah, a former peace envoy in
the ousted government who has been working with the Taliban to ensure a
peaceful transition of power, tweeted that on Saturday he had met with the
Taliban’s acting governor for Kabul, who “assured us that he would do
everything possible for the security of the people
