‘Baseless’: Taliban slams UNSC report mentioning internal rift
The conviction comes after a UN Security Council report said there was division within the ranks of the Taliban.
The Taliban have condemned a United Nations Security Council report as “baseless and biased” calling the Afghan government “extremely exclusive” and “repressive”.
The report, released earlier in June by the UN Security Council’s Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team, said Taliban governance structures remain “highly exclusive, Pashtun-centric and repressive” towards all forms of opposition.
It also said that the return of Kandahar as a seat of power – as it was during Afghanistan’s Taliban rule in the 1990s – bypasses senior Taliban ministers in Kabul, the center of the current government, because of the way decisions are made. taken.
The report also said the group had internal conflicts over key policies, the centralization of power and control over financial and natural resources in Afghanistan.
Continued power struggles further destabilize the situation, to the point where the outbreak of armed conflict between rival factions poses a clear risk, the report said.
In recent months, at least two spokespersons from Kabul have been asked to move to the southern city of Kandahar, sparking speculation about the shift in power from the capital to the southern city of Kandahar, where Supreme Leader Haibatullah Akhunzada is based.
In April, Zabiullah Mujahid, the Taliban’s chief spokesman, was asked to work from both places, while Innamullah Samangani, another deputy spokesman for the interim government, was transferred to Kandahar. The Taliban Information Ministry gave no reasons for the transfer.
‘Hostility’ against Afghans
Mujahid rejected the report’s “allegations” of strife, saying they were unfounded and showed “clear hostility” towards Afghans.
Rumors of dissension among the group’s leaders are a continuation of the propaganda of the past 20 years, he said, referring to 20 years of war and occupation by the US.
“The publication of such biased and unsubstantiated reports by the Security Council does not help Afghanistan and international peace and security, rather it increases people’s concern. [Afghans].”
Since taking over the country in August 2021, the group has expanded its restrictions on media freedom and women’s rights, with high schools for girls remaining closed. Taliban officials had initially promised to open the schools after an infrastructure upgrade to ensure gender segregation, but the group has doubled down on women’s rights by barring women from universities and work.
Analysts say decrees, such as those excluding women and girls from education and work, have been issued from Kandahar – the base of the Taliban chief. Several Taliban leaders have supported women’s empowerment, saying Islam guarantees women’s right to education and work.
Taliban officials have denied there was any rift between the leaders.
The report described the Taliban leader, Akhunzada, as “withdrawn and elusive” and said he had taken extensive measures to ensure his safety while holding meetings.
It also cited an unnamed UN Security Council member as saying Akhunzada had survived two bouts of COVID-19, weakening his respiratory system, in addition to his existing kidney problems, leading to the suggestion that senior Taliban figures wait until his health leads to natural succession.
“Hibatullah has proudly resisted outside pressure to moderate its policies,” the June 1 report said. “There is no evidence that other Kabul-based Taliban leaders can substantially influence policy. There is little prospect of change in the short to medium term.”
In recent days, the Taliban has sought to exclude all foreign organizations from the education sector, a move UN Secretary-General’s chief spokesman Stephane Dujarric said on Thursday.
The Taliban has not commented on the action of the education NGO.
Aid agencies have been providing food, education and healthcare to Afghans in the wake of the August 2021 Taliban takeover and the economic collapse that followed.