Taliban Spokesperson Claims Reports of Executions, Forced Marriages 'Totally Baseless'
Written by <a href="index.php?option=com_comprofiler&task=userProfile&user=60515"><span class="small">MSNBC</span></a>
Tuesday, 17 August 2021 08:20
Excerpt: "Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen denies reports of targeted killings and forced marriages in Afghanistan after the group took power, saying that if those atrocities are occurring they are 'not Taliban.'"
Taliban representatives Abdul Latif Mansoor, Shahabuddin Delawar, and Suhail Shaheen hold a news conference. (photo: Tatyana Makeyeva/Reuters)
Taliban Spokesperson Claims Reports of Executions, Forced Marriages 'Totally Baseless'
By MSNBC
17 August 21
EDITOR'S NOTE: Ultimately, the key issue in Afghanistan in the wake of the U.S. departure and Taliban takeover is going to be human rights. It’s really difficult to find fans of the Taliban; they are by all accounts pretty gnarly. In addition, there are without a doubt credible accounts of Taliban war crimes. The same can accurately and fairly be said of U.S. forces as well.
Nonetheless, it does seem important to the Taliban that they be seen as something resembling rational administrators and not mindless killers. While that is a fairly long shot at this stage, such an eventuality, should it be realized, would be a best-case scenario for human rights in post-American-occupation Afghanistan.
The international community should do everything it can to encourage and reward responsible conduct on the part of the Taliban. They do have a mandate from the Afghan people, by virtue of the country’s peaceful capitulation to their takeover. There is no popular resistance, which roughly equates to a popular mandate, provisionally.
The benefits to Western nations from a reasonably stable Afghanistan would be substantial, both economically and in global security terms. Is the Taliban up to the challenge? Let's hope they are. — MA/RSN