Just a week after taking over Kabul and at a time when there are talks onforming a new government, the Taliban said that former Afghan presidentAshraf Ghani will be allowed to return to the country if he wished to.
The same applies for the deposed vice president, Amrullah Saleh, they saidin a sign of extending their amnesty for all in the war-ravaged country.
Talking to a Pakistani TV, senior Taliban leader Khalilur Rahman Haqqaniclaimed that “there is no enmity” between the group and Ashraf Ghani,Amrullah Saleh and former national security advisor, Hamdullah Mohib.
“We forgive Ashraf Ghani, Amrullah Saleh and Hamdullah Mohib,” saidHaqqani, adding that enmity between the Taliban and the three was only onthe basis of religion.
“We forgive everyone from our end; from the general [who fought in the waragainst us] to the common man,” he said.
On August 17, just two days after the Afghan government collapsed, theinsurgents announced a “general amnesty” for government workers acrossAfghanistan and urged women to join its government.
However, there are reports that the Taliban have been conductingdoor-to-door searches to detain those who worked for Nato forces or theprevious Afghan government.
Also, despite the pledge to honour the women within the Shariah law, twofemale journalists have allegedly been barred by them from working.
As people in groups kept on fleeing the country, the Taliban leaderHaqqani urged them not to do so, adding that the “enemy” was spreadingpropaganda that the Taliban will exact revenge on them.
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“Tajiks, Balochs, Hazaras and Pashtuns are all our brothers,” he added.
“All Afghans are our brothers and hence, they can return to the country,”he said. “The sole reason for our enmity was driven by the ambition tochange the system. The system has now changed,” he added.
Haqqani said the Taliban were not the ones who went to war against the US,adding that the group had decided to take up arms against the US after itinvaded their homeland and fought against its culture, religion and country.
“The Americans were using weapons against us, on our homeland,” he said,adding that God gave the Taliban American weapons as the spoils of war.
Ashraf Ghani is in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the Gulf state’s foreignministry said on Wednesday.
In his first public comments on Sunday, he said he had left the country toavoid further bloodshed.
