{"id":49806,"date":"2021-08-18T14:06:49","date_gmt":"2021-08-18T11:06:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kfm.co.ug\/?p=49806"},"modified":"2021-08-18T14:06:49","modified_gmt":"2021-08-18T11:06:49","slug":"taliban-pledge-to-be-different-as-afghans-flee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kfm.dembefm.ug\/staging_h\/taliban-pledge-to-be-different-as-afghans-flee\/","title":{"rendered":"Taliban pledge to be &#8216;different&#8217;, as Afghans flee"},"content":{"rendered":"<section class=\"author noprint\">\n<figure class=\"left\">\n<div class=\"articleAuthor\"><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p><strong>By AFP<\/strong><\/section>\n<p>The Taliban have offered a pledge of reconciliation, vowing no revenge against opponents and to respect women&#8217;s rights in a &#8220;different&#8221; rule of Afghanistan from two decades ago.<\/p>\n<p>The announcements came on Tuesday night shortly after the return to Afghanistan of their co-founder, crowning the group&#8217;s astonishing comeback after being ousted by a US-led invasion in 2001.<\/p>\n<p>With huge concerns globally about the Taliban&#8217;s brutal human rights record &#8212; and tens of thousands of Afghans still trying to flee the country &#8212; they held their first press conference from Kabul.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;All those in the opposite side are pardoned from A to Z,&#8221; Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told foreign and local reporters, revealing his identity for the first time.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We will not seek revenge.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Mujahid said the new regime would be &#8220;positively different&#8221; from their 1996-2001 stint, which was infamous for deaths by stoning, girls being banned from school and women from working in contact with men.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;If the question is based on ideology, and beliefs, there is no difference&#8230; but if we calculate it based on experience, maturity, and insight, no doubt there are many differences,&#8221; Mujahid told reporters.<\/p>\n<p>A spokesman for the group in Doha, Suhail Shaheen, told Britain&#8217;s Sky News that women would not be required to wear the all-covering burqa, but did not say what attire would be acceptable.<\/p>\n<p>Nevertheless, Afghans and foreigners continued to flee the country, with US and other nations stepping up evacuation airlifts from Kabul airport.<\/p>\n<p>Desperate scenes from the airport at the start of the week have created searing images of Afghans terrified of the Taliban, and a diminished United States unable to protect them.<\/p>\n<p>Some footage showed hundreds of people running alongside a US Air Force plane as it rolled down the runway, with some clinging to the side of it.<\/p>\n<p>The United Nations Human Rights Council announced on Tuesday it would hold a special session on Afghanistan next week to address the &#8220;serious human rights concerns&#8221; under the Taliban.<\/p>\n<p>President Joe Biden&#8217;s administration gave a non-committal response to the Taliban&#8217;s pledges of tolerance.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;If the Taliban says they are going to respect the rights of their citizens, we will be looking for them to uphold that statement and make good on that statement,&#8221; State Department spokesman Ned Price said.<\/p>\n<p>Russia and China have quickly signalled their willingness to work with the Taliban.<\/p>\n<p>Russia said Tuesday that the Taliban&#8217;s initial assurances had been a &#8220;positive signal&#8221; and that the militants were behaving in a &#8220;civilised manner&#8221;.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By AFP The Taliban have offered a pledge of reconciliation, vowing no revenge against opponents and to respect women&#8217;s rights in a &#8220;different&#8221; rule of Afghanistan from two decades ago. The announcements came on Tuesday night shortly after the return to Afghanistan of their co-founder, crowning the group&#8217;s astonishing comeback after being ousted by a US-led invasion in 2001. With huge concerns globally about the Taliban&#8217;s brutal human rights record &#8212; and tens of thousands of Afghans still trying to flee the country &#8212; they held their first press conference from Kabul. &#8220;All those in the opposite side are pardoned from A to Z,&#8221; Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told foreign and local reporters, revealing his identity for the first time. 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