Taliban Confirms Absolute Ban of Political Parties in Afghanistan
Abdul Hakim Sharei, the Taliban’s Minister of Justice, said that the activities of political parties in Afghanistan have been prohibited.
Abdul Hakim Sharei, the Taliban’s Minister of Justice, said that the activities of political parties in Afghanistan have been prohibited.
On Wednesday, Sharei stated that there is no Sharia basis for political parties and added that banning the parties is in the interest of the nation and the people in Afghanistan are not in favour of having them.
According to the Taliban-controlled Bakhtar News Agency, officials of the group’s Ministry of Justice said that the Taliban reviews all laws of Afghanistan according to "Islamic Sharia".
After the Taliban took over Afghanistan in August 2021, Afghan political party leaders and politicians left Afghanistan. A number of these leaders continued their political activities outside Afghanistan, mainly against the Taliban.
Taliban officials added that 38 legal documents and 10 procedural documents have been prepared in this ministry and shared with the Taliban leader for review.
The United Kingdom-based "Afghan Witness”, announced that in the last two years, the organisation recorded 3,329 cases of human rights violations, such as violations of the right to life, women's rights, and, freedom of press in Afghanistan.
The group also mentioned that during this period under the Taliban reign, 112 former security forces had been killed by "unknown individuals".
In the report, in addition to the violation of Afghan women's right to education and employment, the group has documented the killing of more than 188 women by unknown perpetrators and members associated with the Taliban.
Afghan Witness has registered more than 160 protests, including 81 street protests led by women in different provinces of Afghanistan, in the last two years. The Taliban have continuously suppressed protests and arrested and tortured Afghan protesters.
The gradual erosion of ground for independent media and civil society is one of the issues mentioned in the report. According to Afghan Witness, 67 civil society activists, 98 journalists, and media activists have been arrested in the last two years.
According to Afghan Witness, ISIS carried out targeted attacks in Afghanistan, especially against Hazara and Shia communities, over the last two years of Taliban rule in Afghanistan. The group has documented, more than 29 attacks on Hazaras and Shias carried out by ISIS, as a result of which 193 members of this ethnic and religious group have been killed and more than 400 members have been injured.
Afghan Witness has also recorded that as per the order of the Taliban courts, more than 350 people have been punished publicly on the charges of "illicit relations" and at least two people have been executed.
Former governor of Balkh province, Atta Mohammad Noor, reacted to former US envoy, Zalmay Khalilzad's statements about Jihadi leaders, and call them “disrespectful”.
He stressed that Khalilzad is a US citizen and is not in a position to dictate the Afghan Jihadi leaders on their decisions.
In an interview with Radio Afghanistan International, Noor also spoke about his political mistakes and expressed regrets about them.
In a detailed and frank conversation, the outspoken Afghan politician expressed his opinion about a range of current and past issues and criticised well-known politicians such as Ahmad Massoud, the leader of the National Resistance Front (NRF), and Amrullah Saleh, the former vice-president of Afghanistan.
Noor also admitted that the Supreme Council of National Resistance for Salvation of Afghanistan, of which he is one of the prominent members, has been underestimated by the international community. He said that such a view of the council helps the continuation of the reign of the Taliban in Afghanistan.
After the fall of Kabul in August 2021, Noor and other members of the council sought refuge in neighbouring countries. He admitted that the neighbouring governments hinder their activities against the Taliban.
In a conversation with Afghanistan International, the former US representative for Afghanistan asked Noor and other politicians to return to Afghanistan and work with the Taliban. Khalilzad said that Western countries will not support them.
However, Noor emphasised that the council has the ability to bring political change in Afghanistan in the future. He said, "It's true that we don't have a homeland and we are isolated, the countries don't allow us to operate. However, it is this council which will bring the transformation in Afghanistan. We also have our shortcomings, there are differences of opinion."
Noor also revealed that although Massoud is a member of the council, he has not shown much interest in the council’s activities.
The former governor of Balkh said, "Ahmad Massoud, leading the National Resistance Front, is a member of this council, but unfortunately, he does not participate in the meetings honestly and consistently. He talks about cohesion and the need for unity. But in practice, unfortunately, he ignores those words."
Noor's stinging criticisms were also directed at Amrullah Saleh, who joined Ashraf Ghani and became his first vice-president after breaking away from the former Jihadi political parties in the 2019 presidential elections. Earlier, Saleh had made stinging and sarcastic criticisms of Noor and other political figures opposed to Ashraf Ghani and once had said that their political life is over.
In the interview with Radio Afghanistan International, Noor accused Saleh of many times. He accused Saleh of receiving "packages of money as gifts from the Americans" and involvement in "money laundering".
On the two-year anniversary of the fall of the previous government, Noor criticised the United States’ Afghanistan policies too and said that if the Taliban do not understand the importance of peace and solve the problem politically, they will start a war against the group despite America's opposition.
According to him, "We have the experience, strength, and patience of war and we know how to fight again."
This prominent member of Jamiat-e-Islami Party spoke for the first time about his political mistakes too. Noor called joining the disarmament programme in the first years of Hamid Karzai's government a mistake. He said that he could now use the weapons he gave up during the disarmament programme in the war against the Taliban after the fall of the country to the group.
He described forming an election coalition with former presidential candidate, Hanif Atmar in the 2019 presidential election as his "unforgivable grave mistake". Noor admitted that the move "discredited" him in Afghanistan.
This former jihadi commander also called fighting a civil war between jihadi parties in the 1900s another mistake.
While several anti-Taliban protests have been held on the second anniversary of the fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban, the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said that "the future of Afghanistan is in the hands of its people".
On Tuesday, Wang Wenbin, the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson, also described the Taliban's seizure of power as a "historic achievement”.
Wenbin called the fall of Kabul a “military, political and counter-terrorism failure for the US in Afghanistan which proves that military intervention, political infiltration and imposed democratic transformation only end up in turmoil and disaster”.
Wenbin emphasised on the formation of a broad-based "inclusive government framework and safeguarding the rights and interests of women and ethnic minorities” and asked the Taliban to "actively" respond to these expectations.
He also mentioned the expectations of the world to prevent terrorist activities in Afghanistan and said that they expect the Taliban to fulfil their obligations and destroy all terrorist organisations.
Wenbin also mentioned that over the past two years, China has provided large amounts of material aid in various forms through land, sea, and air transportation and helped Afghanistan improve its capacity for self-driven development.
Sirajuddin Haqqani, the Taliban's interior minister, admitted that there are differences of opinion among the Taliban leaders on how to address the "problems" of the country.
However, Haqqani immediately emphasised that "everyone's common goal is a stable and united Afghanistan”.
Sirajuddin Haqqani made these statements on Tuesday at a ceremony celebrating the second anniversary of the Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan.
The ministries of defence, interior and foreign affairs of the Taliban celebrated this day separately in Kabul.
Haqqani emphasised that the Taliban officials are not looking for government positions and they do not allow anyone to foment discord and corruption.
Despite the denial by many Taliban officials regarding differences among the group’s leaders, this is not the first time that Sirajuddin Haqqani has spoken about the rift and stated his concerns. Over the past few months, Haqqani had criticised the "monopoly of power" in the Taliban government.
In his speech he apparently pointed to the Taliban leaders and stressed that "our unity guarantees our survival”.
The Taliban’s interior minister also asked the international community to "choose engagement" instead of "creating problems" for the Taliban government.
He said that the Taliban defends the territory of Afghanistan, and he is not willing to accept "anyone's slavery”.
The Taliban's interior minister also emphasised that the Taliban have been forgiving and want unity after taking power in Afghanistan and stressed that "there is no excuse to wage war inside the country”.
Several other Taliban officials, including Shahabuddin Delawar, Acting Minister of Mines and Petroleum; Abdul Salam Hanafi, Deputy Prime minister; and Mullah Khairullah Khairkhah, Minister of Information and Culture, held a separate celebration ceremony in Kabul.
On Tuesday, the Afghanistan Freedom Front (AFF) announced that its guerrilla fighters killed five Taliban members and wounded three others in an attack on the Taliban outpost in Du Saraka area of Bagram on Monday night.
The Taliban hasn't reacted to the AFF claims yet.
Afghanistan Freedom Front said that its fighters used "light and heavy weapons" in this attack.
The front added that its forces were not harmed during this operation.
AFF, which has recently increased its attacks on the Taliban, has released a video of the latest attack too.