The lone emir of the Taliban has criticized foreign demands on his government, as the UN rights chief called for an end to the “systematic oppression” of women in the country.
The group’s supreme leader, Haibatullah Akhundzada, made a rare public speech to thousands of clerics at an all-male meeting to discuss the future of Afghanistan.
He traveled from his base in Kandahar to Kabul for the address, the first time he is known to have made that trip since the Taliban seized the Afghan capital last August.
The cleric, who has never been filmed and rarely photographed, effectively ruled out an inclusive government that could have attracted members of the ranks of former Taliban opponents and made no mention of women or girls.
He described the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan as a “victory for Muslims around the world,” although his government has not been recognized by any Muslim-majority country and many Muslim clerics inside and outside. of Afghanistan have denounced their harshest edicts.
The meeting closed in the media, but in an audio recording of the speech Akhundzada, a hardline supporter whose son was a suicide bomber, warned the international community not to interfere in Afghanistan.
“Thank God, we are now an independent country. [Foreigners] it doesn’t have to give us its orders, it’s our system and we have our own decisions, ”he said, according to the official Bakhtar news agency.
Diplomats around the world have warned the Taliban that they must expand their government and lift the most extreme controls on women’s lives if they want the official recognition of their government.
Now girls in Afghanistan are banned from secondary education and women cannot work in most sectors outside of health and education, they need a male tutor to travel long distance and they have been ordered to cover their face in public.
Michelle Bachelet, the head of UN human rights, said on Friday that Afghan women and girls are facing a “desperate situation”.
Since the Taliban returned to power, “they are experiencing the most significant and rapid setback in the enjoyment of their rights at the global level in decades,” he told the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.
He urged the Taliban to look for a staff to get girls back to school in other Muslim-majority countries, none of which prohibit education.
Universities and primary schools remain open to female students, albeit in strictly segregated classes, and the Taliban leadership has repeatedly stressed the need for women doctors, teachers and nurses. Many senior Taliban officials send their own daughters to school.
But plans to reopen high schools for girls in March were abruptly canceled at the last minute. The Taliban, who have repeatedly acknowledged that women have the right to education under Islam, have never given a clear explanation for the closures.
Analysts suggested that male clerics meeting in Kabul could discuss the reopening of girls’ schools, an issue that has divided the Taliban movement itself. Prior to the meeting, the acting deputy prime minister said men would speak on behalf of women “because we respect them very much.”
Women’s education is one of the many problems that have caused cracks in the Taliban movement. The dominance of Pashtun Taliban leaders in the government has caused frustration across Afghanistan and fears it could fuel another round of civil war.
Akhundzada effectively ruled out any inclusive government, saying that while former government officials should not fear retaliation, “sorry does not mean bringing them into government.”
While this could leave the door open for Taliban opponents who had been left out of politics, many significant community leaders had some sort of official role under former presidents Hamid Karzai and Ashraf Ghani.
A narrow government may not only be a problem in seeking international support: the Taliban are already fighting armed uprisings in the Panjshir Valley and, more recently, in northern Sar-e Pul Province.
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In Sar-e Pul, a former rebel Taliban, one of the few recruited commanders of the Hazara ethnic community, has turned against the leadership. There have been reports of brutal killings of civilians in the campaign to crush their rebellion, and they have led to condemnations by human rights groups.
“Amnesty International is very concerned about reports of summary executions and civilian damage in the Balkhab district in Sar-e Pul province,” the group said in a statement.
“As de facto authorities in Afghanistan, the Taliban have a primary responsibility to end attacks on civilians and ensure justice and accountability.”