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Taliban co-founder Mullah Baradar has arrived in Kabul for talks with other leaders to hammer out a new Afghan government, a Taliban official said on Saturday, almost a week after the Islamist militants took over the capital without resistance.
The Taliban completed their sudden advance across the country as US-led forces pulled out, coinciding with what German chancellor Angela Merkel on Saturday said was the “breathtaking collapse” of the Afghan army.
Since then, thousands have thronged Kabul airport, with security worsening by the day.
The Taliban official said the group planned to ready a new model for governing within the next few weeks.
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“Experts from the former government will be brought in for crisis management,” he said. The new government structure would not be a democracy by western definitions, but “it will protect everyone’s rights”, the official added.
The Taliban, who follow an strict version of Sunni Islam, have presented a more moderate face since returning to power, saying they want peace, will not take revenge against old enemies and will respect the rights of women within the framework of Islamic law.
When in power from 1996-2001, they stopped women from working or going out without wearing a burqa and stopped children from going to school.
Mr Baradar will meet militant commanders, former government leaders and policymakers, as well as religious scholars among others, the official said without elaborating.
Risky process
About 12,000 foreigners and Afghans working for embassies and international aid groups have been evacuated from Kabul airport since Taliban insurgents entered the capital, a Nato official said.
“The evacuation process is slow, as it is risky, for we don’t want any form of clashes with Taliban members or civilians outside the airport,” the Nato official added.
“We don’t want to start a blame game regarding the evacuation plan.” Switzerland postponed a charter flight to Uzbekistan aimed at helping the evacuation effort, its foreign ministry said on Saturday.
“The security situation around Kabul airport has worsened significantly in the last hours. A large number of people in front of the airport and sometimes violent confrontations are hindering access to the airport,” said the Swiss federal department of foreign affairs.
Individual Afghans and international aid and advocacy groups have reported harsh retaliation against protests, and roundups of those who had formerly held government positions, criticised the Taliban or worked with Americans.
“We have heard of some cases of atrocities and crimes against civilians,” said the Taliban official on condition of anonymity.
“If [members of the Taliban] are doing these law and order problems, they will be investigated,” he said. “We can understand the panic, stress and anxiety. People think we will not be accountable, but that will not be the case.”
Restraint
Western nations have struggled to ramp up the pace of evacuations amid chaos and reports of violence by the insurgents.
“Our fighters will continue to demonstrate restraint,” said the Taliban official. He ruled out incidents of reported kidnappings of foreigners, but added, “we are questioning some of them before they exit the country”.
The Taliban have disowned responsibility for the disorder at Kabul airport, besieged by thousands desperate to flee the country, and have said the west could have had a better plan to evacuate.
At least 12 people have been killed in and around the airport since Sunday, Nato and Taliban officials have said.
Time is running out ahead of the US president’s August 31st deadline to withdraw most remaining US troops, and on Friday night he did not commit to extending it.
The Gulf nation of Bahrain on Saturday announced it was allowing flights to use its transit facilities for the evacuation, an option that should ease pressure after the US faced issues on Friday with its facilities at Al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar rapidly filling up.
The backlog forced flights from Kabul’s international airport to stop for several hours.
The United Arab Emirates said on Saturday that it would host up to 5,000 Afghans “prior to their departure to other countries”.
Tens of thousands of Afghan translators and others, and their close family members, are seeking evacuation after the Taliban's swift takeover of Afghanistan in a little over a week.
Officials also confirmed that US military helicopters flew beyond Kabul airport to pick up 169 Americans. No one knows how many US citizens remain in Afghanistan, but estimates have ranged as high as 15,000.
So far, 13 countries have agreed to host at-risk Afghans at least temporarily, said US secretary of state Antony Blinken. Another 12 have agreed to serve as transit points for evacuees, including Americans and others.
Armed resistance to Taliban
Meanwhile, forces holding out against the Taliban in northern Afghanistan say they have taken three districts close to the Panjshir valley where remnants of government forces and other militia groups have gathered.
Defence minister Gen Bismillah Mohammadi, who has vowed to resist the Taliban, said the districts of Deh Saleh, Bano and Pul-Hesar in the neighbouring province of Baghlan to the north of Panjshir had been taken.
It was not immediately clear what forces were involved. But the incident adds to scattered indications of opposition to the Taliban.
Local television station Tolo News quoted a local police commander who said Bano district in Baghlan was under the control of local militia forces and said there had been heavy casualties.
The Taliban have not commented on the incident.
Former vice-president Amrullah Saleh and Ahmad Massoud, son of former anti-Soviet Mujahideen commander Ahmad Shah Massoud, have vowed to resist the Taliban from Panjshir, which repelled Soviet forces and the Taliban in the 1980s and 1990s.
People close to Mr Massoud say that more than 6,000 fighters, comprising remnants of army and special forces units as well as local militia groups, have gathered in the valley. They say they have some helicopters and military vehicles and have repaired some of the armoured vehicles left behind by the Soviets.
There appeared to be no connection between the groups in Panjshir and apparently unco-ordinated demonstrations in some eastern cities and the capital Kabul in which protesters raised the red green and black colours of the Afghan flag.
But they underscore the problems that may face the Taliban as they begin to consolidate their rapid victory.
The Taliban have not so far tried to enter Panjshir, which is still dotted with the wreckage of Soviet armoured vehicles destroyed in the fighting more than 30 years ago.
But western diplomats and others have expressed scepticism about the ability of the groups gathered there to mount an effective resistance given the lack of outside support and the need to repair and maintain weapons.
The Soviet Union occupied Afghanistan from 1979 to 1989, leaving after 15,000 of its troops were killed and tens of thousands were wounded. – AP/Reuters