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Updated 17 Aug, 2021 10:22pm

Taliban say do not want enemies, women's rights to be respected

The Taliban held their first official news conference in Kabul since the shock seizure of the city, declaring on Tuesday they wished for peaceful relations with other countries and would respect the rights of women within the framework of Islamic law.

"We don't want any internal or external enemies," the Taliban's spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid, said.

He said the insurgents sought no revenge and insisted that "everyone is forgiven," even if they worked with the former government or with foreign governments or forces.

"We assure you that nobody will go to their doors to ask why they helped," he said.

He said women would be allowed to work and study and "will be very active in society but within the framework of Islam."

Promising to respect the rights of women and to seek good relations with other countries, he assured not to extract retribution on former members of the Afghan military.

Zabihullah Mujahid, the movement's main spokesman, echoed assurances from other Taliban officials who have sought to calm fears that the swift seizure of Kabul would lead to a repeat of the public executions and punishments that marked the movement's previous time in power two decades ago.

"We don't want to repeat any conflict, any war again, and we want to do away with the factors for conflict," he said through a translator. "Animosities have come to an end, and we would like to live peacefully. We don't want any internal enemies and any external enemies."

He said a new government would be formalised as soon as the unstable conditions in Kabul permitted.

The rights of women, one of the main focuses of international concern in Afghanistan, would be respected and they would be allowed to work and study and be active in society "but within the framework of Islam."

Promising an amnesty for former members of the Afghan army and police, he said translators and contractors who worked with international forces since 2001 would not be harmed.

"Nobody is going to harm you, nobody is going to knock on your doors," he said, adding that the Taliban hoped the large crowds of people frantically trying to board flights out of Afghanistan would stay and help rebuild their country.

He also pledged that Afghanistan, source of most of the world's heroin according to a U.N. drugs control agency, would be free of narcotics, asking the international community to help it develop alternative crops for farmers who have relied on opium poppies for their livelihood.

The spokesman also said the Taliban wanted private media to remain independent, but stressed journalists should not work against national values.

Mujahid stressed that Afghanistan would not allow itself to harbour anyone targeting other nations. That was a key demand in a deal the militants struck with the Trump administration in 2020 that led to the ultimate US withdrawal under current President Joe Biden.

The press conference comes after Afghanistan vice president Amrullah Saleh, while taking on twitter, said that he was in Afghanistan and was the “legitimate caretaker president”.

“According to the Constitution of Afghanistan, in case of absence, escape or death of the President, the First Vice President will be the acting President," Saleh wrote on twitter.

“I am inside the country and I am legally and legitimately in charge of this position / chair. I am consulting with all the leaders of the country to strengthen this position,” he added.

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