Mawlawi Abdul Kabir, the Taliban’s deputy prime minister for political affairs, said that the group believes in the electoral system. In a meeting with Roza Otunbayeva, the UN special envoy in Kabul, Abdul Kabir said that the Taliban wants an election based on expertise.
The Taliban-controlled Bakhtar News Agency report did not provide further details about Abdul Kabir's comments on elections. The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan has not yet commented on the meeting with the Taliban deputy prime minister.
In this meeting with Otunbayeva, several other senior officials of this group, including Khairullah Khairkhah, the Minister of Information and Culture of the Taliban, and Anas Haqqani, brother of Sirajuddin Haqqani, the Minister of Interior of this group, were also present.
The Taliban’s deputy prime minister speaks about believing in elections, while the Taliban seized power by force in 2021 and has no domestic or international legitimacy.
On the other hand, the Taliban constantly asks the people to pledge allegiance to the leader of this group and obey the orders of Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada.
In practice, after taking over Afghanistan in August 2021, the Taliban abolished all elected institutions, including the election commissions of Afghanistan.
The Taliban rejects the system based on elections and people's votes, and last year, to gain legitimacy, they organised a Loya Jirga in Kabul through which they received a "pledge of allegiance" from their supporters.
In the past one and a half years since their takeover of Afghanistan, the Taliban has abolished the Parliament, the provincial councils, the Ministry of State for Parliamentary Affairs, as well as the Afghan Constitution.
The Taliban has also revoked the license of political parties and denied women and girls basic rights to education, work, and travel.
