Taliban won because of weakness of previous govt: Afghan ex-envoy

LAHORE: Former Afghan ambassador in Pakistan Omar Zakhilwal said that the Taliban had won not because of their power but the weaknesses and rifts in the previous government.

In a session on “Afghan Women and Girls Fighting for Survival,” Zakhilwal, also a former finance minister and key player in intra-Afghan dialogue for peace, said that he had raised the issue with the then Presidents Ghani and Karzai.

Mahbouba Seraj, an Afghan journalist and women rights activist, said that the Taliban, good or bad, was question of the year. “There are different groups of the Taliban. But they are the Taliban. There is no such thing as good or bad. They just have a difference of ideology regarding girl education and this is their difference. The Taliban know that the international community is not doing anything. The international community had created them and it has a lot of leverage for the wellness of Afghanistan. But actually we don’t fall into the picture of what they do. The Taliban are only taking advantage of this lack of action. In the dark and hopeless situation, the reality is that Afghan women have not given up. My Afghan sisters have not given up.”

Sima Samar, former minister of women’s affairs, Afghanistan, in her virtual address, said, “We should check the definition of good and bad first before anything says. President Ghani had divided ethnic groups in order to rule, and he was unable to manage the peace process.

It should have been done in a principled way with a clear goal in mind and some room for optimism.”

She added that after so many years it was that we had equal rights for women. “They were part of the constitution making, part of the jirga but all is gone. But people used the religion to restrict women. If half of the population does not get rights, the country will not get sustainable development. This is the reality,” she added.