TOKYO -- Fresh from their swift and dramatic conquest of Afghanistan, the Taliban are now hastening efforts to form a government as their exiled leaders return. Anxiety is deepening, however, that the militant Islamist group will return to the politics of fear they employed when they last ruled the bulk of the country 20 years ago.
Taliban co-founder Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar and other key figures arrived at Afghanistan as of Wednesday, gathering at the group's longtime stronghold of Kandahar. Baradar heads the Taliban's political office in Qatar, and met Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Tianjin in July.
Since 2016, the Taliban have been led by their third supreme leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada, who joined the group's leadership after teaching at religious schools. Many of his students have become fighters for the Islamist group.
Akhundzada has several deputies overseeing administrative and diplomatic matters. Key decisions are believed to be made by a leadership council and are carried out by various committees in charge of military and financial matters.
Speaking at his first news conference since the takeover, Taliban spokesperson Zabiullah Mujahid on Tuesday said talks to transfer power to the group were progressing. The group has voiced assurances that the Afghan people, including women and children, will be protected.
Nevertheless, fears are mounting that Afghanistan could return to a reign of terror under the Taliban, which previously ruled the country from 1996 to 2001, especially as reports emerge of the group's heavy-handed policies on the ground.
A Taliban checkpoint near the U.S. embassy in Kabul on Aug. 17: despite assurances of amnesty, reports have emerged of militants beating and intimidating civilians. © AP Taliban militants on Wednesday erected checkpoints along access roads to the airport in Kabul, beating citizens and intimidating others trying to flee the country, according to U.S. media reports. At least three people died on Wednesday after Taliban fighters opened fire on protesters in the eastern city of Jalalabad, Reuters reported.
"Nobody is going to harm you, nobody is going to knock on your doors," Mujahid said Tuesday, stressing that the group had changed since it was last in power.
But smartphone video from a civilian in Kabul recently showed Taliban fighters kicking in a door to a house and beating individuals with their guns. U.S. media report that militants have raided homes and killed women.
"I am particularly concerned by accounts of mounting human rights violations against the women and girls of Afghanistan who fear a return to the darkest days," United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a speech Monday.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told reporters Aug. 17 that the group was not the same as it was 20 years ago. © AP A 30-year-old former government worker living in Kabul expressed fear of reprisals by the Taliban, despite the group's assurances there would be no revenge killings.
"The Taliban came looking for me near my home three times," he said. "I'll be detained if they find me."
"They're just pretending to respect human rights and liberty right now, and will go back to how they were 20 years ago in a few months," he added.
The man, who previously held a high-ranking position, said the Taliban began looking for former government staffers across the country after taking control. He warned that former government workers who opposed the Taliban as well as women's rights activists were in danger.
"I lied to my family that I was leaving the country on the 16th, and am now hiding at my friend's home in Kabul," he said.
The Taliban did not offer a detailed plan for governance during peace talks with the Afghan government held in earnest in September 2020. It began talks with former President Hamid Karzai and other ex-government officials on Wednesday about forming a new government, although how that would look remains unclear.