The situation in Afghanistan remains unclear. After the fall of the Afghan government on Sunday with the invasion of the Taliban in Kabul, a lightning campaign came to an end in which little blood flowed. The Taliban offered little resistance. Provincial governors surrendered in turn, and none of the notorious Afghan warlords stood in the way of the Taliban. But popular anger is already brewing in various conquered cities.
In power for a few days, the country is still in fact at war. No ceasefire was declared and no peace agreement was signed. Afghanistan has no government. It remains unclear when the Taliban will proclaim the Islamic Emirates of Afghanistan and form a government. “Give us time,” Taliban spokesman Sabiullah Mujahid asked the media and the world on Tuesday. Time is currently not on the side of the Taliban. While they are trying to consolidate their power, there is initial resistance in the country to the new old rulers.
“We no longer want Afghanistan to be a battlefield,” said Mujahid. “The war is over.” However, the latest developments in the country show that the Taliban are by no means welcomed everywhere.
Popular anger against the new rulers
The first street protests against the Islamists’ takeover took place in at least two Afghan cities on Wednesday. A demonstration in northeast Jalalabad, halfway from Kabul to Peshawar, Pakistan, was violently crushed by Taliban fighters. Jalalabad is an important trading center. The main supply of Kabul is by land from Peshawar via the city. The route is now blocked.
Despite the dangers, hundreds of demonstrators marched through the main shopping street of Jalalabad. They waved the flags of the Afghan Republic, whistled and chanted calls against the Taliban, like them “New York Times” reported. Taliban fighters shot in the air, but the demonstrators could not be driven away. At least one person was killed. The man tore down the Taliban flag and instead hoisted the flag of the Republic. The Taliban then opened fire.
Protests also broke out in Khost in southeastern Afghanistan, also an important trading city near Pakistan. Hundreds of people took to the streets. If the Taliban do not win the population on their side, the country is threatened with a new civil war. Alongside these initial protests, a Taliban woman who was not wearing a burqa was shot dead in northern Tachar. Images of bearded Taliban hitting people trying to flee the country with iron chains and batons at Kabul airport undermine the efforts of the new rulers to pretend to be responsible new rulers.
Islamic scholars decide on women’s rights
A few brave women had already demonstrated for their rights in Kabul on Tuesday – in broad daylight, under the eyes of the armed Taliban, who let the women have their way. It is still unclear what freedoms women lose under the Taliban’s Sharia law.
The rights of women in the Taliban’s Afghanistan should not be decided by the new government, but by Islamic scholars. This is what a senior Taliban leader told the news agency “Reuters”. The role of women in Afghanistan, their right to work and education, as well as the question of how to dress, will ultimately be decided by a council of Islamic scholars.
“Our ulema (scholars, editor’s note) will decide whether girls are allowed to go to school or not,” said the senior Taliban commander Waheedullah Hashimi. “You will decide whether or not women should wear a hijab, a burqa or just a veil and an abaya (long overdress, editor’s note) or something else.” These questions are the scholars of Islam. (kes)