Taliban representatives, negotiating a peace deal with the Afghan government, have pledged rights to the women and avoided demanding a total power in a rare meeting held in Paris.
It was hard to determine whether the softer line taken by the Taliban representatives reflected a real shift in policy or a salvo in the propaganda war for the hearts and minds of Afghans.
The speech said that a new constitution would protect civil and political rights of all citizens. It promised that women would be allowed to choose husbands, own property, attend school and seek work. The speech was emailed from Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid.
The speech delivered by Mawlawi Shahbuddin Dilawar and Muhammad Naeem during the conference said that the Taliban were not looking for monopoly and that they wanted an all-Afghan government.
Afghanistan’s Foreign Ministry spokesman said the government welcomed such talks but did not expect them to bridge the gap between the warring sides.
The United States started to embrace the idea of peace talks after President Barack Obama took office, but discussions stalled in recent years, despite the formation of an Afghan government council tasked with reaching out to the Taliban and the establishment of a Taliban political office in Qatar.
The Afghan Foreign Minister Janan Mosazai said that the Afghan government’s preconditions for the peace talks have not changed. The conditions included a cease-fire, recognition of the constitution, respecting the rights of Afghan women and children. He added that the initiative is a process and meetings were not going to solve the problem.
The Taliban speech reiterated the group’s own longtime policies, declaring that the current constitution was ”illegitimate because it is written under the shadow of (US) B-52 aircraft” and that the Taliban remained the legitimate government of the country, a reference to the US-led campaign that drove the Taliban from power.
It also called for the withdrawal of all foreign forces and said a 2014 national election was ”not beneficial for solving the Afghan quandary” because it would take place while the country was still under foreign occupation.
