Sept 2, 2021: Afghanistan’s new rulers, the Taliban were preparing to unveil their new government on Thursday as the economy verged on the brink of collapse more than two weeks after the Taliban captured the capital Kabul after 20 years of foreign occupation by US forces.
Taliban official Ahmadullah Muttaqi said a ceremony was being held on social media at the presidential palace in Kabul, while private broadcaster Tolo said the announcement of a new government was imminent. In the eyes of international donors and investors, the new government’s legitimacy will be important to the economy as the country fights the ravages of drought and a conflict that has killed an estimated 240,000 Afghans.
The Taliban has vowed to allow any foreigner or Afghan to leave the country, following a massive evacuation effort through airlift that ended on Monday with the withdrawal of the last US troops.
But with Kabul Airport still closed, many people were trying to flee neighboring countries via overland routes.
A source familiar with the matter said a Qatari technical team had arrived in Kabul to discuss resuming operations at the airport, which would facilitate humanitarian aid and further evacuations.
British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab would visit Doha on Thursday to discuss the situation in Afghanistan with Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani.
“The prospects of getting Kabul airport up and running and safe passage for foreign nationals and Afghans across land borders (are) top of the agenda,” the British Foreign Office said in a statement.
Taliban supreme leader Hebatullah Akhundzada is expected to have final say on the new governing council with a President under him according to a Taliban spokesperson.
The Taliban’s supreme leader has three deputies: Maulvi Yaqub, son of the late Mullah Omar, the movement’s founder; Sirajuddin Haqqani, leader of the powerful Haqqani Network and Abdul Ghani Baradar, one of the group’s founding members.
The Taliban have tried to present a more moderate face to the world since they swept aside the U.S.-backed government and returned to power last month, promising to protect human rights and refrain from reprisals against old enemies.
Humanitarian organizations have warned of catastrophe as severe drought and the upheavals of war have forced thousands of families to flee their homes.
Afghanistan desperately needs money, and the Taliban are unlikely to get swift access to the roughly $10 billion in assets mostly held abroad by the Afghan central bank.
Foreign investment would be needed to support a more optimistic view, a scenario possible if some major economies, including China and possibly Russia, view the Taliban as a legitimate government.
While the Taliban are tightening control over Kabul and the provincial capitals, they are battling opposition groups and the remnants of the Afghan army in the mountains north of the capital.
“The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan is the home of all Afghans,” said Amir Khan Motaqi, a senior Taliban leader, calling for the insurgents to surrender in Panjshir Province.
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