David fox
08/18/2021 6:00 AM
Clarín.com
World
Updated 08/18/2021 6:00 AM
Life slowly resumed its rhythm in Kabul
amid strong fear of the new Taliban regime, which strengthens its control in the city and hinders the departure of those who want to flee from Afghanistan.
Shops reopened in Kabul, traffic resumed and police controlled traffic, while
the Taliban guarded checkpoints.
But some signs indicate that
life will not be the same.
The men exchanged their western clothes for shalwar kameez - the loose traditional Afghan dress - and state television broadcasts mainly Islamic programs.
Schools and universities in the capital are still closed
and few women dared to go out on the streets.
Some gathered briefly at the entrance to the "green zone"
to ask for the right to return to work
.
The Taliban tried in vain to disperse them, before civilians convinced them to leave.
Zabihullah Mujahid, Taliban spokesman in Kabul.
Fotro EFE
Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar
, co-founder and number two of the Taliban, returned to Afghanistan from Qatar, where he headed the movement's political cabinet, said one of his spokesmen.
The Taliban also announced
"a general amnesty"
for all state officials, calling on them "to resume their daily lives with complete confidence."
Gestures and mistrust
The Taliban have multiplied their
gestures of appeasement
towards the population since they entered Kabul on Sunday after a blazing offensive with which in just ten days they took control of almost the entire country, and of the presidential palace, abandoned by Ashraf Ghani, who fled abroad.
But for many Afghans, it
will be difficult to trust them
.
When they ruled Afghanistan between 1996 and 2001, they imposed an ultra-rigorous version of Islamic law.
Women could not work or study, and thieves and murderers faced terrible punishments.
The flag of the Taliban in Kabul.
AP Photo
"People are afraid of the unknown. The Taliban patrol the city in small convoys. They don't bother anyone, but
of course people are afraid,
" a businessman in Kabul told AFP on Tuesday.
Despite their messages, some reports suggest that they
were still looking for government officials
, and a witness said that men entered the home of one of those officials to take him away by force.
Faced with the "rapid deterioration of the security and human rights situation" and "the humanitarian emergency situation", the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
asked to prohibit the repatriation of Afghans.
In a long-awaited speech, US President Joe Biden
on Monday defended the withdrawal of US troops
from Afghanistan, where they entered 20 years ago to oust the Taliban from power.
"I am deeply saddened by the events, but I do not regret" the decision, Biden said.
The Taliban triumph
The United States intervened in Afghanistan in 2001 due to the Taliban's refusal to
hand over Al Qaeda chief
Osama bin Laden after the September 11 attacks.
The triumph of the Taliban sparked scenes of panic and chaos at Kabul airport on Monday, where thousands of desperate people rushed to flee.
A photo of Kabul in 1996 after the first Taliban triumph.
AP Photo
Videos on social media showed
hundreds of people running alongside a US military plane
about to take off, while some clung to its sides or its wheels.
One photograph
captured about 640 Afghans
crammed into a US Air Force C-17 plane.
Some of them got on the aircraft with the ramp half open.
Washington sent
6,000 troops to secure the airport
and evict some 30,000 American and Afghan civilian collaborators in fear for their lives.
Spain, Germany, France, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and several other countries accelerated
the repatriation of their citizens.
Reactions
The reaction of the international community began to arrive.
The United States announced Monday that it will
only recognize
a Taliban government in Afghanistan if it respects women's rights and turns away from extremist movements such as al Qaeda.
The Interior Ministry in Kabul.
AFP photo
China, which said it wanted to maintain
"friendly relations"
with the Taliban, criticized on Tuesday the "terrible chaos" left by the United States in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan.
Russia, whose ambassador should be the first diplomatic contact of the new regime, considered that the guarantees of the Taliban in terms of freedom of opinion are
a "positive sign"
and wished the beginning of a dialogue of "all political, ethnic and religious forces ".
After 20 years of military intervention in Afghanistan, British Defense Minister Ben Wallace
spoke of a "failure of the international community"
, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that the intervention in Afghanistan was not so "fruitful" as expected.
For his part, French President Emmanuel Macron considered that Afghanistan should not
"go back to being the sanctuary of terrorism."
But for many analysts, while the Taliban
should be more cautious in their dealings with Al Qaeda
, the two groups remain closely linked.
"What is happening in Afghanistan is a clear and resounding victory for Al Qaeda," said Colin Clarke, research director at the Soufan Center, who believes that this group could be used
to attract recruits
and create a new dynamic.
AFP Agency
PB
Look also
Hugo Llorens, former ambassador to Afghanistan: "This is a total failure, the US has been defeated by the Taliban"
"Will I be able to leave?", The desperate wait at the Kabul airport to leave Afghanistan