Thousands of Afghan religious academics and tribal elders gathered in the capital yesterday for a loya jirga, a meeting that the Taliban hope will rubber-stamp their hardline Islamic rule.
Officials have provided scant details of the jirga — a traditional gathering of influential men that settles differences by consensus — and the media has been barred from attending.
It comes a week after a powerful earthquake struck the east of the country killing more than 1,000 people and leaving tens of thousands homeless.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Even before the quake, the Taliban were struggling to administer a country that had long been in the grip of economic malaise, utterly dependent on foreign aid that dried up with the overthrow of the Western-backed government in August last year.
Officials from the US were due to meet senior Taliban leaders in Qatar later yesterday for talks on unlocking some of Afghanistan’s frozen currency reserves, with Washington seeking to ensure that the money goes to help the population rather than the Islamist group.
A Taliban source this week said that criticism of the regime would be allowed at the three-day jirga, and thorny issues such as the education of girls — which has divided opinion in the movement — would be discussed.
However, women are not allowed to attend, with Deputy Prime Minister Abdul Salam Hanafi telling state broadcaster RTA on Wednesday that there was no need, because they would be represented by male relatives.
“The women are our mothers and sisters... We respect them a lot,” he said. “When their sons are in the gathering, it means they are also involved.”
Since the Taliban’s return, secondary-school girls have been barred from education, while women were dismissed from government jobs, forbidden from traveling alone and ordered to dress in clothing that covers everything but their faces.
They have also outlawed playing nonreligious music, banned the portrayal of human figures in advertising, ordered TV channels to stop showing movies and soap operas featuring uncovered women, and told men they should dress in traditional outfits and grow their beards.
A letter from the prime minister’s office said that each of Afghanistan’s more than 400 districts should provide three delegates to the meeting.
Cities, religious groups and other organizations would also be sending representatives, bringing the gathering to more than 3,000 — the biggest leadership collective since the Taliban returned to power.
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