Taliban at odds over inclusive government, women’s rights

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, November 12

Pakistan attempted to mainstream Taliban by getting a visiting delegation headed by its Acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi to meet Afghan envoys from the US, Russia and China who were gathered in Islamabad on Thursday for the ‘Troika Plus’ talks on stabilising Afghanistan. 

But Muttaqi’s observations while speaking at a Pakistani think-tank on women’s rights and inclusive government suggested a gap between the international community’s wish list and the Taliban’s willingness to implement them.

“100 per cent of all female health care workers have returned to work,’’ said Muttaqi at the Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad, and described the protests in Afghanistan about women not being allowed to work as “agenda-driven.’’

The Taliban leader was equally dismissive of the ‘Delhi Declaration’ of eight NSAs and the ‘Troika Plus’ joint statement seeking the inclusion of all sections of the society in Afghanistan’s administrative and political structure. “The international community wants us to build an inclusive government. Our current Cabinet fulfils that requirement. We have representatives from all ethnicities,’’ said Muttaqi. The Taliban had carried out a minor expansion of its original Pahstun-dominated Cabinet by inducting mostly Deputy Ministers from other ethnicities but none of them well known.

“Reforms that the international community wants us to take we want to work towards them peacefully not through pressure tactics. As for international recognition, we are being recognised as the de facto government. Embassies are open inside our country and we have representatives in foreign countries,’’ he said, indicating that the Taliban may not go the extra mile to win recognition.

While asserting the Taliban’s independence, Muttaqi let slip that his country will remain dependent on external aid. “Aid has been cut by International human rights champions,’’ he complained

Earlier, a delegation led by Muttaqi met Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and agreed to form a committee to facilitate travel and trade. Pakistan has also offered technical assistance to Kabul in transit trade and the movement of people by land and air.