KANDAHAR – The Taliban view their rule of Afghanistan as open-ended, drawing legitimacy from Islamic legislation and dealing with no vital danger, their chief spokesman stated in an interview marking the second anniversary of the Taliban takeover of the rustic. He additionally urged a ban on feminine schooling will stay in position.
Zabihullah Mujahid brushed apart any questions from The Associated Press about restrictions on women and girls, pronouncing he had not anything new to mention at the topic whilst additionally indicating the established order will stay. The ban on women attending college past 6th grade used to be the primary of what in the second one year of Taliban keep an eye on become a flurry of restrictions that now stay Afghan women and girls from study rooms, maximum jobs and far of public existence.
The Taliban seized power on August 15, 2021, as U.S. and NATO forces withdrew from the rustic after twenty years of warfare.
They marked their 2d anniversary as rulers of Afghanistan on Tuesday, which used to be declared a public vacation. Women, in large part barred from public existence, didn’t participate in the festivities.
In the southern town of Kandahar, the non secular birthplace of the Taliban, army staff posed with armored cars. Young males rode during the town on two wheels or 4, waving flags and brandishing guns. Toddlers clutched smaller white Taliban flags with a photograph of the Defense Minister Maulvi Mohammad Yaqoob at the backside proper nook.
In the capital, Kabul, pick-up vehicles stuffed with men of more than a few ages wound their approach during the town. Men swarmed Martyrs Square, taking selfies and clambering directly to a monument. Boys posed with rifles.
Over the previous two years, it has change into an increasing number of obvious that the seat of power is in Kandahar, the house of ideal chief Hibatullah Akhundzada, moderately than the Taliban-led executive in Kabul.
The interview with Mujahid happened overdue Monday in a TV studio on a rundown former army compound in Kandahar. The U.N. Mission in Afghanistan and native executive departments are positioned within sight.
Mujahid arrived in a white SUV, accompanied through one guard and a driving force. He spoke evenly and courteously, falling again on Taliban speaking issues on problems like girls’s rights and world reputation.
He stated Taliban rule is open-ended as it attracts its legitimacy from Islamic legislation, or Sharia. “There is no fixed term for the Islamic government,” he stated. “It will serve for as long as it can and as long as the emir (the supreme leader) isn’t removed for doing something that goes against Sharia.”
Taking inventory after two years, Mujahid stated that there is no danger to Taliban rule from within or out of doors the rustic. He claimed that the present executive is appearing responsibly, and that Afghans crave consensus and harmony. “There is no need for anyone to rebel,” Mujahid said.
In a statement Tuesday, the Taliban government listed what it considered its accomplishments, including restoring a sense of personal safety and national pride.
The statement makes no mention of the tens of thousands of Afghans who fled in the aftermath of the takeover or the severe economic downturn and deepening poverty as international aid dried up. At the same time, the Taliban appear to have settled in, avoiding internal divisions and even keeping their struggling economy afloat, in part by holding investment talks with capital-rich regional countries.
Mujahid was reluctant to discuss the restrictions on girls and women, brushing aside questions about the issue as repetitive and saying there was no point talking about it unless there were updates.
He did suggest change was unlikely.
In conversations with foreign diplomats and aid officials, the Taliban typically avoid saying they oppose female education on principle, arguing instead that they need more resources and time to allow for gender segregation in classrooms and campuses, in line with their interpretation of Sharia.
Mujahid presented this argument in the interview, noting that “everything will be under the influence of Sharia.”
Asked why the Taliban don’t seem to be enlisting Muslim-majority international locations with Sharia-based methods to restart feminine schooling, he stated the Taliban don’t want the lend a hand of others.
Akhundzada, the ideal chief, is noticed as the main drive at the back of the study room ban which used to be issued unexpectedly in March 2022, simply as Kabul-based executive ministers stated they had been getting ready to permit women from 7th grade and up to go back to university.
Mujahid stated there used to be war of words amongst non secular students on feminine schooling, and urged that keeping up unity amongst them used to be extra vital than getting women and girls again into study rooms.
The prospect of world isolation, and the lack of recognition as Afghanistan’s reputable executive as a result of of restrictions on girls and women, isn’t a urgent worry for the Taliban management.
“Our interaction with China, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Iran, Pakistan and other countries in the region is official,” he stated. “We have embassies, travel, consulates. We have businesses. Traders come and go and transfer goods. These are all the things that mean the recognition of officialdom.”
Aid agencies, rights groups and the U.N. this week issued statements condemning the Taliban’s rule and warning of the humanitarian crisis gripping the Afghan population.
World Vision said the number of people in need of assistance has increased by around 5 million. It said 15 million people will face “crisis” ranges of meals lack of confidence this year, with 2.8 million in the “emergency” class, the fourth perfect in the arena.
An alliance of rights groups, including Amnesty International, said the Taliban should be pressured to end violations and repression and should be investigated for alleged crimes under international law, including gender persecution against women and girls.
“Most health facilities have poor infrastructure, and there are fewer qualified health care workers due to immigration, limits on women’s movement and employment, and reduced funds to pay salaries and keep facilities open,” Harris said.
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Associated Press creator Jamey Keaten contributed to this document from Geneva.
