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The Taliban’s declare comes forward of a go to by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Protection Secretary Lloyd Austin to Qatar, the place they count on to debate secure passage for Afghans in search of to flee the nation in addition to human-rights points, together with these of Afghan ladies.
On Saturday, the Taliban roughly broke up a protest by ladies in Kabul.
Panjshir, a valley protected by a hoop of mountains, is the one a part of the nation the Taliban didn’t conquer in a lightning blitz that culminated with their seize of Kabul on Aug. 15.
The Taliban posted a video Saturday displaying what they stated had been their fighters, in seized U.S.-supplied Humvees, on a mountainside street in Panjshir. It wasn’t clear from the footage the place and when it was filmed.
A resistance supporter confirmed the setback, saying the Taliban had entered Panjshir from each the south and the north.
Emergency, an Italy-based nongovernmental group, stated the Taliban had reached the village of Anabah, Panjshir, the place it runs medical middle. It stated it had obtained a small variety of wounded on the facility, which is constant its work.
Formally, nevertheless, the rebels denied that the Taliban had made inroads.
When the final Taliban regime was in energy, from 1996 to 2001, it did not enter Panjshir, the place the resistance was then led by Afghan army commander Ahmad Shah Massoud. His son, Ahmad Massoud, who has no earlier expertise of combating, is the present chief of the rebels. Panjshir, residence to the nation’s Tajik ethnic minority, additionally held out in opposition to the Soviet invasion of the Nineteen Eighties.
“We’ll by no means cease combating, struggling for God, freedom and justice,” Mr. Massoud stated in a put up on Fb on Saturday.
In Kabul, Taliban fighters and a few supporters celebrated the event by capturing within the air, inflicting casualties. Two hospitals stated they’d obtained a complete of two lifeless and about 16 injured.
Individually, ladies have staged a number of protests because the Taliban cemented their takeover, together with in current days within the distant southwestern province of Nimroz and the western metropolis of Herat.
When the Taliban was final in energy, ladies had been banned from schooling and couldn’t depart the home with out a male escort.
This time, the Taliban have tried to mission a extra average picture concerning ladies, pledging to respect their rights inside the limits of Islam however with out explaining what these limits can be. They’ve stated ladies ought to keep residence till their fighters are educated and sensitized to ladies’s rights, however haven’t supplied any time-frame.
In a protest Saturday in Kabul, a small group of girls held placards, one in every of which learn, “We aren’t ladies of the 90s.”
“Taliban, Taliban: The violators of girls’s rights” and “With the weapons of schooling and information, we defend our rights,” learn different banners.
Razia Barakzai, the organizer of the march, stated that when protesters neared the ministry of finance, the Taliban blocked their method and began beating them, firing tear gasoline and bullets within the air. One of many demonstrators was injured severely, she stated.
“We would like our rights, our equal rights like different human beings. We wish to have participation in politics and social affairs,” she stated.
She stated it was “painful” that when the Taliban had been attacking them, males passing on the street stood and watched. She stated the Taliban adopted every of them residence and now know the place they dwell.
An image of one other girl on the protest with blood coming down the facet of her face was circulated on social media.
The Taliban are nonetheless in talks on forming a brand new authorities. On Friday, Mr. Blinken stated the U.S. wished to see the Taliban set up a authorities that features different Afghan factions and that refrains from reprisals in opposition to opponents.
Mr. Blinken, who arrives Sunday in Qatar, has stated Washington additionally needs the Taliban to permit freedom to journey for Afghans.
“We proceed to take care of channels of communication with the Taliban on points which can be essential to us,” Mr. Blinken stated. U.S. officers individually stated Mr. Blinken doesn’t have plans to satisfy with the Taliban in Qatar, the place the group has its political workplace.
Mr. Austin will depart Sunday for a go to to Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. Washington says it’s working with Qatar and Turkey to reopen the airport, which might allow extra Afghans to depart the nation. Mr. Blinken stated Friday that out of the 124,000 individuals evacuated within the second half of August, 75% to 80% had been Afghans in danger from the Taliban.
On Saturday, the top of Pakistan’s Inter-Companies Intelligence spy company, Lt. Gen. Faiz Hameed, arrived in Kabul. The Pakistani army didn’t touch upon his agenda.
Western governments, together with the U.S., have accused Islamabad of supporting the Taliban, prices that the Pakistani authorities denies. In the meantime, Islamabad is worried that it’s going to face a wave of refugees, and it is usually frightened about anti-Pakistan extremists in Afghanistan. Western governments have requested for Pakistan’s assist in getting remaining residents and in danger Afghans out of Afghanistan.
This story has been printed from a wire company feed with out modifications to the textual content
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