Afghanistan: Taliban do not consolidate their government and have not yet activated the humanitarian corridor at Kabul airport

While the installation of the “humanitarian corridor“At Kabul airport, Afghans and The international community was still awaiting the composition of the new government led by the Taliban this Friday., whose dazzling reconquest of the country continues to encounter a hotbed of resistance in the Panshir valley.

The cabinet announcement, which the Taliban has vowed to be representative and tolerant, was initially expected after Friday prayers, but a Taliban spokesperson told the agency AFP that it would not happen, at least, until Saturday.

Radical Islamist movement faces enormous challenge of transitioning from insurgent group to power management just days later the final withdrawal of American troops after two decades of war.

Yet they continue to fight to extinguish the last flame of resistance in the Panshir valley, which resisted for a decade the occupation of the Soviet Union and also the first Taliban government between 1996 and 2001.

Ali Maisam Nazary, a resistance spokesperson in Pashir, said on Friday that he suffered New attacks Taliban forces overnight.

The fighters of the National Resistance Front (RNR), made up of anti-Taliban militias and former Afghan security forces, they have large reserves of arms in the valley, located some 80 kilometers north of Kabul.

However, on Friday, protaliban Twitter accounts posted videos claiming that new regime fighters had taken tanks and other heavy military equipment back to the valley. These allegations could not be independently verified.

While the majority of the international community has adopted an approach of to warn and suspicion with the new leaders there are signs of interaction of some countries.

China has confirmed information from a Taliban spokesperson that China’s foreign ministry has pledged to keep its embassy in Kabul open and improve relations.

“We hope that the Taliban will establish an inclusive and open political structure, conduct a moderate and stable domestic and foreign policy, and break with all terrorist groups.Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said, Wang Wenbin.

For its part, the countries of the European Union (EU) decided to coordinate to maintain a presence in Kabul, in order to facilitate the evacuations of those who wish to leave the country, as far as security conditions allow.

The UN has announced the resumption of its flights humanitarian since Pakistan to the towns of Mazar-i-Charif (north) and Kandahar (on).

Local airline Ariana told one AFP that domestic flights will resume on Friday, starting with a link from Mazar-i-Sharif to Kabul, after obtaining “Green light from the Taliban and aviation authorities.”

Besides, Western Union and Moneygram companies have reactivated their money transfer services in the country, on which many Afghan recipients depend for remittances from immigrant parents.

Even before the Taliban blitzkrieg, Afghanistan was already a country heavily dependent on foreign aid and 40% of its GDP came from external financing.

The UN warned that there was 18 million people on the brink of a humanitarian disaster and that number could double very quickly.

Qatar, meanwhile, hopes to establish humanitarian corridors at Afghan airports within 48 hours., as the Doha envoy for Afghanistan indicated on the channel Al Jazeera this Friday.

“We hope that in the next 24 or 48 hours we will attend the opening of humanitarian corridors so that humanitarian aid can enter through Kabul airport and other airports that are operational, ”Mutlaq al Qahtani told the Qatari channel from Afghanistan.

The Qatari government announced Thursday that it is negotiating with the Taliban to reopen Kabul airport “as soon as possible”.

Doha played a mediating role in the peace process between the Afghan government and the Taliban, before taking power in Afghanistan on August 15. Since then, this country has maintained a privileged link with the new Islamist regime installed in Kabul. As such, the wealthy emirate attracts all the attention of the international community.

The return of the Taliban to power forced the West to evacuate in a short time from Kabul airport their citizens and Afghans who they were working with foreign troops.

The new Afghan rulers have promised a more open regime than the one they led between 1996 and 2001, known for the brutal application of Islamic law and its treatment of women, that they were forbidden to study, work or go out without the company of a man.

Emphasis is also placed on the Taliban’s ability to form a government capable of managing a war-torn economy and delivering on their promises of an “inclusive” government.

Women’s protests

There is a lot of speculation about the formation of the new cabinet, and a senior official said this week that it will hardly include women. In Kabul, around 30 women demonstrated to demand their right to work and an inclusive government, a day after several dozen others staged a similar protest in the city of Herat, in the west of the country.

Women’s rights are just one of the many challenges facing the new government. In Kabul, many citizens were concerned about the country’s economic difficulties.

(With information from AFP)

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