KABUL (REUTERS) - The Taleban on Thursday (Aug 19) urged crowds of Afghans waiting outside Kabul airport in the hope of fleeing the country to go home, saying they did not want to hurt anyone, a day after Taleban fighters fired at protesters, killing three, witnesses said.
The United States and other Western powers pressed on with the evacuation of their nationals and some of their Afghan staff from the airport on Afghanistan's Independence Day, which could trigger more protests against the Islamists.
While Kabul has been generally calm since Taleban forces entered on Sunday after a week of stunning advances across the country, the airport has been in chaos as people rushed for a way out of the Afghan capital.
Twelve people have been killed in and around the airport since Sunday, a Nato and a Taleban official said. The deaths were caused either by gunshots or by stampedes, the Taleban official said.
He urged people who do not have the legal right to travel to go home.
"We don't want to hurt anyone at the airport," said the Taleban official, who declined to be identified.
About 8,000 people have been flown out since Sunday, a Western security official said. The US military is in charge of the airport while Taleban fighters patrol outside its walled and fenced perimeter.
On Wednesday, witnesses said Taleban gunmen prevented people from getting into the airport compound.
"It's a complete disaster. The Taleban were firing into the air, pushing people, beating them with AK-47s," said one person trying to get out on Wednesday.
A Taleban official said commanders and soldiers had fired into the air to disperse the crowd. The situation was more calm on Thursday, witnesses said.
Under a pact negotiated last year by former president Donald Trump's administration, the US agreed to withdraw its forces in exchange for a Taleban guarantee they would not let Afghanistan be used to launch terrorist attacks.
The Taleban also agreed not to attack foreign forces as they left.
President Joe Biden said US forces would remain until the evacuation of Americans was finished, even if that meant staying past a Aug 31 US deadline for withdrawal.
The Taleban militants have been putting on a moderate face, saying they have changed since their 1996 to 2001 rule when they severely restricted women, staged public executions and blew up ancient Buddhist statues.
They now say they want peace, will not take revenge against old enemies and would respect the rights of women within the framework of Islamic law.
Related Story
Evacuation flights resume at Kabul airport after crowds cleared from runway
Related Story
'People were clinging on to jets': How the chaos unfolded in Afghanistan as the Taleban seized control
But there are serious doubts about their assurances.
Demonstrations in the eastern city of Jalalabad on Wednesday marked the first major display of collective defiance of the Taleban takeover.
In normal times, the country would celebrate Afghanistan's 1919 independence from British control on Aug 19, but scenes in Jalalabad raised the prospect that people could use the patriotic occasion to protest.
Two witnesses and a former police official told Reuters Taleban fighters opened fire when protesters in Jalalabad tried to raise the national flag, killing three and wounding more than a dozen.
Video footage posted online and aired by the media showed hundreds of people in Jalalabad with the black, red and green tricolour flying from rooftops and carried by some protesters.
This screengrab shows Afghan people protesting over the reported removal of Afghan flags replaced with the Taliban flags in Jalalabad, on Aug 18, 2021. PHOTO: AFP
Media reported they had torn down the white Taleban flag.
"I will sacrifice my life for this flag. This is my flag. My government will soon be back, God willing," said one protester wrapped in the tricolour in a report from Sky News.
The centre of opposition to the Taleban is the Panjshir Valley, an ethnic-Tajik stronghold to the north-east of Kabul.
In an op-ed for The Washington Post, Mr Ahmad Massoud, the Panjshiri leader of the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan called for Western support to fight the Taleban.
Related Story
First resistance to Taleban rule presents test of Afghanistan's uncertain future
Related Story
Council may rule Afghanistan, Taleban to recruit soldiers and pilots, says senior member
"I write from the Panjshir Valley today, ready to follow in my father's footsteps, with mujahideen fighters who are prepared to once again take on the Taleban," wrote Mr Massoud, the son of Amhad Shah Massoud, a veteran guerrilla leader assassinated by suspected Al-Qaeda militants on behalf of the Taleban in 2001.
Other former Afghan leaders, including former president Hamid Karzai, have been holding talks with the Taleban as they put together a new government.
The Taleban government may take the form of a ruling council with supreme leader Haibatullah Akhundzada in overall charge, said Mr Waheedullah Hashimi, a senior member of the group.
Afghanistan would not be a democracy. "It is syariah law and that is it," he told Reuters.
Related Story
Taleban go door-to-door telling fearful Afghans to work
Related Story
Afghans evacuated to Germany describe terrifying scenes at Kabul airport
Related Stories:
Related Story
'People were clinging on to jets': How the chaos unfolded in Afghanistan as the Taleban seized control
Related Story
Facebook moves to block Taleban's WhatsApp accounts
Related Story
Biden approval drops to lowest of seven-month presidency after Taleban takeover
Related Story
After 7 years of failing to fix Afghanistan, President Ghani makes a hasty escape
Related Story
Speaking of Asia: Beware the Afghan traps
Related Story
How will the Taleban's comeback in Afghanistan affect S'pore and the region?
Related Story
Afghan military was built over 20 years. How did it collapse so quickly?
Related Story
How the Taleban swept back to power in Afghanistan
Related Story
The Taleban returns: Afghan events may have spillover effect on South Asia, say analysts
Related Story
Who's who behind the Taleban leadership
Join ST's Telegram channel here and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Topics:
More Whatsapp Linkedin FB Messenger Telegram Reddit WeChat Pinterest Print Copy permalink https://str.sg/3iwD