KABUL, Aug 18 — At least three people were killed in anti-Taliban protests in the Afghan city of Jalalabad today, witnesses said, as the militant group tried to set up a government and Western countries stepped up evacuations of diplomats and civilians. More than a dozen people were injured after...
The witnesses said the deaths took place when local residents tried to install Afghanistan’s national flag at a square in Jalalabad, some 150 km from the capital on the main road to Pakistan.As the Taliban consolidated power, one of their leaders and co-founders, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, returned to Afghanistan for the first time in more than 10 years. A Taliban official said leaders would show themselves to the world, unlike in the past when they lived in secret.
About 5,000 diplomats, security staff, aid workers and Afghans have been evacuated from Kabul in the last 24 hours, a Western official told Reuters today. Women would be allowed to work and study and “will be very active in society but within the framework of Islam”, he said. Mujahid said the Taliban would not seek retribution against former soldiers and government officials, and were granting an amnesty for ex-soldiers as well as contractors and translators who worked for international forces.
US President Joe Biden, who has faced a barrage of criticism about the withdrawal, has said he had had to decide between asking US forces to fight endlessly or follow through on the withdrawal deal of his predecessor Donald Trump. Britain’s ambassador to Afghanistan said his team had evacuated about 700 people on Tuesday and hoped to scale up the operation in coming days.
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