A former Afghan parliamentarian has told an international summit on Afghanistan that the Taliban needs to accept the transformation of Afghan society if it wants to be accepted in Afghan politics.
Former MP Fawzia Koofi told the Moscow-based meeting that no one can rule the Afghan people by force and at gunpoint, which is a campaign the Taliban has engaged in since its takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021.
She said that the Taliban has not coped with changes in Afghanistan and has resorted to policies of “elimination” like its first period of their government in the 1990s, with women being the first target.
In its two years of rule, the Taliban have issued more than 80 repressive decrees against women, Ms Koofi said, adding that the Taliban have turned Afghanistan into a country where “if there is a lack of oxygen, women may not be allowed to breathe”.
The summit was held last week at the President Hotel in Moscow, hosted by the Russian Party of Freedom and Justice. It’s the first time political opponents of the Taliban have been invited for a summit on Afghanistan since the collapse of the previous government.
Political figures who attended also included Mohammad Mohaqiq, from the National Resistance Council for the Salvation of Afghanistan, Ahmad Massood, the leader of the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan (NRF), and former MP Shukria Barakzai.
She emphasized that the Taliban actions in Afghanistan in the name of religion and culture is neither rooted in Afghan culture nor in Islamic values, as other Islamic countries can attest.
She said resistance to the Taliban has not stopped since the group took control, with the country’s dissatisfaction only growing despite Taliban attempts to quell all opposition.
Civil protests have been ongoing across the country since the earliest days of Taliban rule in 2021, mostly led by women, Ms Koofi said.
The more the civil resistance has increased, the more the Taliban has engaged in “repression”, she added, saying that the Taliban is so challenged by the civil resistance that it resorts to imprisoning family members of protestors to threaten and silence critics.
Ms Koofi called for the world to end its paradoxical policy on Afghanistan and get on the same page as the Afghan people to provide space for political and civil differences in Afghanistan.
Former MP and Afghan ambassador to Norway Shukria Barakzai also addressed the meeting saying the Taliban does not deserve to call itself the ruler of Afghanistan or be entrusted with embassies as long as it denies half of the country its human rights and operates as a law unto itself.
Ms Barakzai said women still have hope in the face of the blatant gender apartheid they’re being subjected to as the media continues to highlight it as a crime against humanity.
But she levelled criticism at Afghanistan’s regional neighbors for not recognizing the Taliban while simultaneously doing nothing to help the Afghans who flee from it.
“The countries that shout about stability and security in this conference about Afghanistan under the rule of the Taliban, do they and their country feel safe and secure from the Taliban government or not? Does anyone fear that Afghanistan will once again become the center of international terrorism?
“Do any of you recognize the Taliban regime that is ruling in Afghanistan today? If the Taliban system is not worthy of your recognition, why do you want to impose it on the people of Afghanistan?” Ms Barakzia said.
She agreed with Ms Koofi that the de facto government of Afghanistan group is not representative of its nation, language, religion, or history and called on the summit attendees to help free Afghan women from their open-air prison.
