*Taliban Faction Leaders Meet Former Afghan President Hamid Karzai Amid Talks To Form Govt*
Kabul: A couple of days after taking power in Afghanistan, Taliban faction leaders on Wednesday met former Afghan President Hamid Karzai in Kabul for talks, amid efforts by the Taliban to set up a government. Notably, commander and senior leader of Haqqani Network militant group, Anas Haqqani has met former Afghan President Hamid Karzai.
As per updates from news agency Reuters, Karzai was accompanied by the old government’s main peace envoy, Abdullah Abdullah.
It must be noted that the Haqqani Network is an important faction of the Taliban, who captured Kabul on Sunday. Based on the border with Pakistan, Haqqani Network was accused over recent years of some of the most deadly militant attacks in Afghanistan.
In the meantime, the Taliban on Tuesday premised to respect women’s rights, forgive those who fought them and ensure Afghanistan does not become a haven for terrorists as part of a publicity blitz aimed at reassuring world powers and a fearful population.
Following a lightning offensive across Afghanistan that saw many cities fall to the insurgents without a fight, the Taliban have sought to portray themselves as more moderate than when they imposed a strict form of Islamic rule in the late 1990s. But many Afghans remain skeptical and thousands have raced to the airport, desperate to flee the country.
Older generations remember the Taliban’s previous rule, when they largely confined women to their homes, banned television and music, and held public executions. A US-led invasion drove them from power months after the 9/11 attacks, which al-Qaida had orchestrated from Afghanistan while being sheltered by the Taliban.
Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban’s longtime spokesman addressed concerns at a news conference and promised the Taliban would honor women’s rights within the norms of Islamic law, without elaborating.
Mujahid also said the Taliban would not allow Afghanistan to be used as a base for attacking other countries, as it was in the years before 9/11. That assurance was part of a 2020 peace deal reached between the Taliban and the Trump administration that paved the way for the American withdrawal.
Mujahid reiterated that the Taliban have offered full amnesty to Afghans who worked for the US and the Western-backed government, saying nobody will go to their doors to ask why they helped. He said private media should remain independent” but that journalists should not work against national values.
