The Taliban were due to announce the first members of their new government on Tuesday, in a move that would further cement their power over Afghanistan just days after a chaotic US troop pullout.
The Islamist hardliners, who swept into Kabul on August 15 following a lightning offensive that decimated the former Afghan army, have pledged a more moderate brand of rule than in their first stint in power in 1996-2001.
But Tuesday saw Taliban fighters fire shots into the air to disperse hundreds of people who had gathered at several rallies in Kabul in a sign of defiance by Afghans against the movement, remembered for their brutal and oppressive reign.
“It was agreed that we would announce a new government before a formal ceremony could be held,” Ahmadullah Wasiq said, adding “some members” of the cabinet would be announced at a press conference later Tuesday.
The announcement was due hours after at least three rallies were held across Kabul in a show of resistance that would have been unthinkable during the Taliban’s last regime — when people were publicly executed and thieves had their hands chopped off.
– ‘We are tired’ –
“Afghan women want their country to be free. They want their country to be rebuilt. We are tired,” protester Sarah Fahim told AFP at one rally outside the Pakistani embassy, where more than 70 people, mostly women, had gathered.
“We want that all our people have normal lives. How long shall we live in this situation?” the 25-year-old said.
The crowd held up banners and chanted about their frustrations with security, free passage out of the country and alleged meddling by Pakistan — which historically has had close ties with the Taliban leadership.
Pakistan, one of just three countries that recognised the last Taliban government, has long been accused of offering its leaders safe haven after they were kicked out of power by the US-led invasion of 2001.
Pakistan’s intelligence chief Faiz Hameed was in Kabul at the weekend, reportedly to be briefed by his country’s ambassador but is likely to have also met with Taliban officials.
Videos posted on social media of a separate rally showed more than a hundred people marching through the streets under the watchful eye of armed Taliban members.
Another protester, Zahra Mohammadi, a doctor from Kabul, said: “We want Afghanistan to become free. We want freedom.”
Scattered demonstrations have also been held in smaller cities in recent days, including in Herat and Mazar-i-Sharif where women have demanded to be part of a new government.
– ‘Go away’ –
General Mobin, a Taliban official in charge of security in the capital, told AFP he had been called to the scene by Taliban guards who said that “women were creating a disruption”.
“These protesters are gathered based only on the conspiracy of foreign intelligence,” he claimed.
An Afghan journalist covering the demonstration told AFP his press ID and camera were confiscated by the Taliban.
“I was kicked and told to go away,” he said.
Later, the Kabul-based Afghan Independent Journalists Association said 14 journalists — Afghan and foreign — were detained briefly during the protests before being released.
Images shared online showed reporters with cuts and bruises to their hands and knees.
Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the Taliban had reiterated a pledge to allow Afghans to freely depart Afghanistan.
The Taliban told the United States that “they will let people with travel documents freely depart”, Blinken said at a news conference in Doha where he and Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin met their Qatari opposite numbers.
US President Joe Biden has faced mounting pressure amid reports that several hundred people, including Americans, have been prevented for a week from flying out of an airport in northern Afghanistan.
– ‘Hit hard’ –
Tuesday’s demonstrations come after the Taliban claimed total control over Afghanistan a day earlier, saying they had won the key battle for the Panjshir Valley.
Following their lightning-fast victory in mid-August over the former Afghan government’s security forces and the withdrawal of US troops after 20 years of war, the Taliban turned to fighting the resistance forces defending the mountainous region.
In a press conference on Monday, chief Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid warned against any further attempts to rise up against their rule.
“Anyone who tries to start an insurgency will be hit hard. We will not allow another,” he said.
