KABUL: Afghanistan’s new Taliban rulers are committed in principle to education and jobs for girls and women, a marked departure from their previous time in power, and seek the world’s mercy and compassion to help millions of Afghans in desperate need, a top Taliban leader said in a rare interview.

Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi also told The Associated Press that the Taliban government wants good relations with all countries and has no issue with the United States. He urged Washington and other nations to release upward of $10 billion in funds that were frozen when the Taliban took power on Aug 15, following a rapid military sweep across Afghanistan and the sudden, secret flight of US-backed President Ashraf Ghani.

“Sanctions against Afghanistan would ... not have any benefit,” Mr Muttaqi said on Sunday, speaking in his native Pashto during the interview in the sprawling pale brick Foreign Ministry building in the heart of the Afghan capital.

“Making Afghanistan unstable or having a weak Afghan government is not in the interest of anyone,” said Mr Muttaqi, whose aides include employees of the previous government and those recruited from the ranks of the Taliban.

Ask for world’s mercy to help millions of Afghans in desperate need

Mr Muttaqi acknowledged the world’s outrage at the Taliban-imposed limitations on girls’ education and on women in the work force. In many parts of Afghanistan, female high school students between the grades of seven and 12 have not been permitted to go to school since the Taliban took over, and many female civil servants have been told to stay home. Taliban officials have said they need time to create gender-segregated arrangements in schools and workplaces that meet their severe interpretation of Islam.

When they first ruled from 1996 to 2001, the Taliban shocked the world by barring girls and women from schools and jobs, banning most entertainment and sports and occasionally carrying out executions in front of large crowds in sports stadiums.

But Mr Muttaqi said the Taliban have changed since they last ruled.

“We have made progress in administration and in politics ... in interaction with the nation and the world. With each passing day we will gain more experience and make more progress,” he said.

Mr Muttaqi said that under the new Taliban government, girls are going to school through to grade 12 in 10 of the country’s 34 provinces, private schools and universities are operating unhindered and 100 per cent of women who had previously worked in the health sector are back on the job. “This shows that we are committed in principle to women participation,” he said.

He claimed that the Taliban have not targeted their opponents, instead having announced a general amnesty and providing some protection. Leaders of the previous government live without threat in Kabul, he said, though the majority have fled.

Last month, the international group Human Rights Watch published a report saying the Taliban summarily killed or forcibly disappeared more than 100 former police and intelligence officials in four provinces. However, there have been no reports of large-scale retribution.

Mr Muttaqi alleged that the Afghan government that took power after the US-led coalition ousted the Taliban regime in 2001 carried out widespread revenge attacks against the Taliban. Hundreds disappeared or were killed, causing thousands to flee to the mountains, he said. The Taliban were ousted for harboring al Qaida and Osama bin Laden who masterminded the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the US.

Mr Muttaqi insisted poverty and the dream of a better life, not fear, drove thousands of Afghans to rush the Kabul airport in mid-August in hopes of getting to the US. The crush of people had generated searing images of men clinging to a departing American C-17 aircraft, while others fell to the ground as the wheels retracted.

He said the Taliban have made mistakes in their first months in power and that they will work for more reforms which can benefit the nation. He did not elaborate on the mistakes or possible reforms.

Mr Muttaqi pushed back against comments by US Marine Gen. Frank McKenzie who told the AP last week that the Al Qaeda extremist group has grown slightly inside Afghanistan since US forces left in late August. Mr McKenzie is Washington’s top military commander in the Middle East.

In a February 2020 deal that spelled out the terms of a US troop withdrawal, the Taliban had promised to fight terrorism and deny terrorist groups a safe haven.

Mr Muttaqi said that the Taliban have kept that promise, along with a pledge not to attack US and Nato forces during the final phase of the withdrawal which ended in late August.

“My last point is to America, to the American nation: You are a great and big nation and you must have enough patience and have a big heart to dare to make policies on Afghanistan based on international rules and regulations, and to end the differences and make the distance between us shorter and choose good relations with Afghanistan.”

Published in Dawn, December 14th, 2021