Afghanistan will not pose threat to any country, does not seek revenge, claims Taliban
In its first press conference since taking over Kabul, a Taliban spokesperson claimed that women in Afghanistan will have rights based on Islamic law.
The Taliban on Tuesday said that no threat will be posed to any country from Afghanistan, reported TOLO News.
The group’s spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid made the announcement in the first press conference since the Taliban took over the Afghan capital Kabul earlier this week.
“I would like to assure the international community, including the United States, that nobody will be harmed,” Mujahid said, according to Al Jazeera. “...We are not going to allow our territory to be used against anybody or any country in the world.”
The Taliban spokesperson added that they would not seek revenge from anyone, including the ousted officials of the Afghanistan government, and the country’s security forces.
Earlier on Tuesday, the insurgent group had announced a “general amnesty” for government officials and urged them to return to work.
“Nobody is going to harm you, nobody is going to knock on your doors,” Mujahid said at the press conference. “We do not want any internal or external enemies.”
The spokesperson also claimed that there would be no discrimination against women and the group was committed to providing them rights based on Islamic law.
Mujahid also said that the Taliban wanted private media to remain independent, but asserted that journalists “should not work against national values”.
The Taliban spokesperson said that the group’s ideologies and beliefs have been the same since the 1990s, when the group became prominent in Afghanistan. He, however, added that they were more experienced and had a different perspective this time, TOLO News reported.
The press conference was held three days after the Taliban took over the presidential palace in Kabul as President Ashraf Ghani fled the country, reportedly to neighbouring Tajikistan.
The fall of Kabul was followed by a swift takeover by the Taliban since their clashes with the Afghan forces escalated as foreign troops prepare to withdraw from the country by the end of August.
Several countries, including India, have evacuated their citizens from Afghanistan amid a scramble to leave the country hit by political crisis.
On Tuesday too, the Taliban did not provide details on the form of governance in Afghanistan under them. Mujahid, however, said that they would soon reach a “settlement” through which an Islamic government will be established in the country.
Meanwhile, Afghan Vice President Amrullah Saleh claimed that in Ghani’s absence he was the “legitimate care taker president” of the country according to the Constitution.
