KABUL: The Taliban have pleaded with the international community to show “mercy and compassion” by releasing $10 billion in funds frozen to help millions of Afghans in desperate need, a top Taliban leader said in a rare interview.
In an interview with Associated Press, Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi said Afghanistan’s new rulers are committed in principle to education and jobs for girls and women, a marked departure from their previous time in power, and seek the world’s “mercy” by releasing $10 billion in funds frozen when the movement seized Kabul.
The country’s interim Foreign Minister also told The Associated Press that the Taliban government wants good relations with all countries and has no issue with the United States. “Sanctions against Afghanistan would not have any benefit,” Muttaqi said, speaking in his native Pashto during the interview.
“Making Afghanistan unstable or having a weak Afghan government is not in the interest of anyone,” said Muttaqi, whose aides include employees of the previous government as well as those recruited from the ranks of the Taliban.
Muttaqi acknowledged the world’s outrage at the Taliban-imposed limitations on girls’ education and on women in the workforce. In many parts of Afghanistan, female high school students between the grades of seven and 12 have not been permitted to go to school since the Taliban took over.
‘We will gain more experience with time’
When they first ruled from 1996-2001, the Taliban shocked the world by barring girls and women from schools and jobs, banning most entertainment and sports and occasionally carrying out executions in front of large crowds in sports stadiums.
However, Muttaqi said the Taliban have changed since they last ruled. “We have made progress in administration and in politics in interaction with the nation and the world. With each passing day we will gain more experience and make more progress,” he said.
Muttaqi said that under the new Taliban government, girls are going to school through to Grade 12 in 10 of the country’s 34 provinces, private schools and universities are operating unhindered and 100 per cent of women who had previously worked in the health sector are back on the job.
“This shows that we are committed in principle to women participation,” he added. Muttaqi claimed that the Taliban have not targeted their opponents, instead of having announced a general amnesty and providing some protection.
Muttaqi charged the Afghan government that took power after the US-led coalition ousted the Taliban regime in 2001 carried out widespread revenge attacks against the Taliban.
Hundreds disappeared or were killed, causing thousands to flee to the mountains, he said. The Taliban were ousted for harbouring al Qaida and Osama bin Laden who masterminded the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the US.
Muttaqi insisted poverty and the dream of a better life — not fear — drove thousands of Afghans to rush the Kabul airport in mid-August in hopes of getting to America.
