Clashes amid scramble to flee
WESTERN security forces exchanged fire with unidentified gunmen yesterday at Kabul airport, as US President Joe Biden sought to speed up the chaotic evacuation of tens of thousands of people from Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.
One Afghan was killed and three others were injured in a dawn firefight that the German military had said erupted between Afghan guards and unknown assailants.
German and American troops “participated in further exchange of fire”, the German army said.
This was the latest episode in a chaotic operation overseen by the US army that has seen about 30 000 people evacuated from Afghanistan since the Taliban marched into Kabul on August 15, taking effective control of the country.
The Taliban, infamous for an ultrastrict interpretation of sharia law during their initial 1996-2001 rule, have repeatedly vowed a softer version this time. But terrified Afghans still try to flee, overwhelming the operation at Kabul airport and leading to tragic scenes in which at least eight people have died.
The Taliban’s victory ended two decades of war as they took advantage of Biden’s decision to withdraw nearly all US troops from the country.
Biden, who has redeployed thousands back to Afghanistan to oversee the evacuations, has insisted he wants to end the US military presence and the airlifts by August 31.
But with the EU and Britain saying it would be impossible to get everyone out by then, Biden is under pressure to extend the deadline. Speaking at the White House, Biden said on Sunday that he hoped the airlift would not be extended, but said talks were underway to explore that possibility.
“There’s discussions going among us and the military about extending,” Biden said. He acknowledged the tragic scenes at the airport, which have also included babies and children being passed to soldiers over razor-wire fences and men clinging to departing planes. But he said they were part of the cost of departure. “There is no way to evacuate this many people without pain and loss and heartbreaking images,” he said.
Biden spoke after the Taliban, who have been holding talks with elders and politicians to set up a government, slammed the evacuation. “America, with all its power and facilities … has failed to bring order to the airport,” Taliban official Amir Khan Mutaqi said. “There is peace and calm all over the country, but chaos only at Kabul airport.” In the streets of the capital, the Taliban have indeed enforced a calm of a kind, with their armed forces patrolling the streets and manning checkpoints. Visually, they have also been looking to stamp their authority, ensuring the tri-coloured national flag is replaced with their white banner.
At a roadside in Kabul at the weekend, young men sold Taliban flags, which bear in black text the Muslim proclamation of faith and the regime’s formal name: “Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan”.
“Our goal is to spread the flag of the Islamic Emirate throughout Afghanistan,” said seller Ahmad Shakib, who studies economics at university.
Outside of Kabul, there have been flickers of resistance against the Taliban. Some ex-government troops have gathered in the Panjshir Valley, north of the capital – long known as an anti-Taliban bastion. The Taliban said yesterday their fighters had surrounded resistance forces holed up in the valley, but were looking to negotiate rather than take the fight to them.
Taliban fighters “are stationed near Panjshir”, spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid tweeted, saying they had the area surrounded on three sides. “The Islamic Emirate is trying to resolve this issue peacefully,” he added.
The announcement follows scattered reports of clashes overnight, with pro-Taliban social media accounts claiming gunmen were massing, and Afghanistan’s former vice-president Amrullah Saleh saying resistance forces were holding strong.
One of the leaders of the movement in Panjshir, named the National Resistance Front, is the son of famed anti-Taliban commander Ahmad Shah Massoud. The NRF is prepared for a “long-term conflict” but is also still seeking to negotiate with the Taliban about an inclusive government, its spokesperson Ali Maisam Nazary said. “The conditions for a peace deal with the Taliban are decentralisation, a system that ensures social justice, equality, rights, and freedom for all.”
Meanwhile, war-weary Afghans in cities far from Kabul are feeling a mix of relief and dread about what awaits them under the Taliban.
The triumph of the hardline Islamist group and the mass surrender of government forces has brought a long-desired respite from fighting, which has left tens of thousands dead and millions homeless since 2001.
But whether women can work, get education and be able to mix with men are some of the most pressing questions.
A school principal in the northeastern city of Kunduz, where the Taliban traditionally have less influence, said the group was permitting education of girls of all ages, but under strict segregation.
“The Taliban said if women are teaching girls, then there is no problem,” he said. “Women teachers can go to school but they cannot work together with men.”
In another diktat, the Taliban told him no music or singing was allowed.
But in the markets and in health clinics, women could still be seen without male chaperones, he observed.
The militants have promised a different kind of rule to their brutal regime of the 1990s.
The Taliban rebranding is being treated with scepticism, with experts questioning whether it will be a shortterm bid to seek international recognition and a continuation of vital aid.
The Taliban have not yet formed a government, leaving room for differences in how they are asserting their authority in newly seized territories.