Kabul/New Delhi/Beijing: The Taliban have appealed to the international community to recognise it amid growing resentment against it at home and abroad, even as the Afghan militant group sought to placate China, saying Beijing can play a big role under its rule in the strife-torn country.
Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen said the international community should "respect the will of the Afghan people" and officially recognise his group which has taken over power in Kabul.
Dismissing growing concerns over the Taliban curbing the freedoms of women under its plans to impose Sharia law like it did during its previous rule 20 years ago, Shaheen told China's state-run CGTN TV that the new Taliban government in Kabul would protect women's rights to education and work.
He also urged international monetary organisations to release funds to the new government.
The Taliban, which shared close ties with Pakistan, have been warming up to Beijing ahead of its recent offensive resulting in seizing power in Kabul. We have had a relationship with China and Russia during the past years. We have told them they should not have any concern from Afghanistan, he said.
We see it in our interest not to allow anyone to use our soil against our neighbouring and regional countries. It is important for us, he said, amid increasing scepticism, especially among women who faced subjugation under Taliban's previous rule 20 years ago with its efforts to impose strict Sharia law.
Also for the reconstruction of Afghanistan, we need the help of all countries, including neighbouring as well as regional, the US and the rest of the world, Shaheen said.
The Taliban are currently in talks with former President Hameed Karzai and Abdullah Abdullah, who headed the High Council for National Reconciliation, to form what it calls an inclusive government.
However, an Afghan official familiar with talks with the Taliban says the group does not plan to make any decisions or announcements about the upcoming government until after the August 31 US withdrawal date passes.
The official, who is not authorised to give information to the media and thus spoke anonymously, says Taliban lead negotiator Anas Haqqani has told his ex-government interlocuters that the insurgent movement has a deal with the US to do nothing until after the final withdrawal date passes.
He did not elaborate on whether the reference to doing nothing was only in the political field. Haqqani's statement raises concerns about what the religious movement might be planning after August 31, and whether they will keep their promise to include non-Taliban officials in the next government. Until now the Taliban have said nothing of their plans to replace the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces, or what a replacement would look like.
Meanwhile, reports of targeted killings in areas overrun by the Taliban mounted Friday, fuelling fears that they will return Afghanistan to the repressive rule they imposed when they were last in power, even as they urged imams to push a message of unity at Friday's prayers.
Reports of abuses are growing, and an Amnesty International report provided more evidence Friday that undercut the Taliban's claims they have changed.
The rights group said that its researchers spoke to eyewitnesses in Ghazni province who recounted how the Taliban killed nine ethnic Hazara men in the village of Mundarakht on July 4-6. It said six of the men were shot, and three were tortured to death. Hazaras are Shiite Muslims who were previously persecuted by the Taliban and who made major gains in education and social status in recent years.
The brutality of the killings was a reminder of the Taliban's past record, and a horrifying indicator of what Taliban rule may bring, said Agnes Callamard, the head of Amnesty International.
The rights group warned that many more killings may have gone unreported because the Taliban cut cellphone services in many areas they've captured to prevent images from being published. Separately, Reporters without Borders expressed alarm at the news that Taliban fighters killed the family member of an Afghan journalist working for German broadcaster Deutsche Welle on Wednesday.
Sadly, this confirms our worst fears, said Katja Gloger of the press freedom group's German section. The brutal action of the Taliban show that the lives of independent media workers in Afghanistan are in acute danger.
Meanwhile, Indian government sources said that the Taliban entered consulates in Kandahar and Herat on Wednesday, searched for documents and took away parked cars.
"We expected this. They ransacked the place searched documents and also took away our parked vehicles from both embassies," a senior officer said.
The United States said on Friday that it evacuated approximately 3,000 people from Kabul via military transport aircraft on August 19.
We have evacuated approximately 9,000 people since August 14. Since the end of July, we have evacuated approximately 14,000 people," it said.