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Taliban seeks 'cooperation' from former govt officials, to hold meetings over next few days
According to a spokesperson, Taliban commanders will meet former governors and bureaucrats over the next few days.
Former governors and bureaucrats from more than 20 of Afghanistan's 34 provinces will meet commanders from the Taliban over the next few days, an official of the group said on Sunday on condition of anonymity, according to Reuters. The meeting will take place to "ensure the safety" of the officials and to "seek their cooperation", he added.
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The official further said there is no pressure on former government employees to join the Taliban. "We are not forcing any former government official to join us or prove their allegiance to us. They have a right to leave their country if they want to," he said.
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Though the insurgents offered "general amnesty" to government officials upon seizing power on August 15 by capturing Kabul, the city's airport has, in recent days, been thronged by Afghans desperate to leave their country fearing persecution by the regime. Other "promises" made by the Taliban include honouring women's rights "within the norms of Islam." None of the "promises" have been, however, fulfilled till now.
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The Taliban official also said they were seeking complete clarity on the exit plan of foreign troops, adding that managing crowds outside the Kabul airport has become a "complex task."
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Previously it has been reported that the group will wait till August 31 to announce a new "government," as it has a deal with the United States. In April, US president Joe Biden fixed August 31 as the date by which American troops will leave the war-torn nation, nearly 20 years after arriving here in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. The US-led troops ended the Taliban's first rule, which lasted from 1996 to 2001.
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Taliban officials have also held talks with former Afghanistan president Hamid Karzai and Abdullah Abdullah, who headed the High Council of National Reconciliation (HNRC) over the formation of a future Afghan "government."
