Afghanistan: should we believe in the words of appeasement of the Taliban? – LCI

In front of the cameras, the idea is to reassure. In the streets of Kabul, the Taliban invest the traffic axes and explain their presence by their desire to ensure the protection of the inhabitants. On Afghan television, a representative is interviewed by a female journalist and a few hours later the Taliban hold a press conference. Each time, the same rhetoric: the Taliban have changed.

Promising to work for reconciliation in Afghanistan, they say they have forgiven their opponents and want to protect the rights of women in accordance with Islamic law.

“With the will of God and in accordance with the principles of Sharia law, we will allow women to work. They are an important part of our society and we respect them.”Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said at the Kabul New Masters’ first press conference on Tuesday.

As if to provide proof of this goodwill, in the large town of Herat, a school for girls was able to reopen its doors. However, all students must wear the veil. For political scientist Olivier Roy, specialist in Afghanistan, the Taliban are obliged to be open.

“I believe that indeed, the Taliban, for questions of good management of society, have an interest in opening up a space of maneuver, a space of freedom for women. But there will be limits”, he judges in the subject of TF1 at the top of this article.

The international community and the population also remain cautious, not forgetting the Taliban’s human rights abuses when they were in power from 1996 to 2001. At that time, the application of an ultra-rigorous version of the Islamic law notably prohibited women from working or studying.

As of Tuesday, the men had swapped their Western clothes for the shalwar kameez, the loose traditional Afghan dress. Advertisements in the streets of Kabul showing women have been covered up and the airport area is still beset by hundreds of people seeking to flee the country.

“The Taliban send reassuring messages about women’s rights, but their actions on the ground say otherwise”, assures the former Minister of Women, Hosna Jalil, in the LCI video below. “I think they will adopt the same practices as during their first stint in power, and it could even be worse”, she predicts, desperate. According to UN figures, more women and children were killed in the first 6 months of 2021 than in any year combined since 2009.

Protest demonstrations have already begun. Some women, as a sign of defiance, dared to demonstrate in the streets of Kabul. 150 kilometers further, in Jalalalabad, dozens of people tried to replace the Taliban flag with the Afghan flag in protest. However, far from the message of appeasement they were putting forward to the media, the Taliban opened fire to disperse the demonstrators.