KABUL: Four days after taking over Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, the Taliban on Thursday announced the establishment of an Islamic emirate in the country.
Spokesman for the Taliban Zabiullah Mujahid took to Twitter to announce the decision.
Mujahid shared a picture in the tweet, bearing the words, Da Afghanistan Islami Imarat’ and also the Islamic state’s flag as well as the official logo.
The spokesman said in the tweet that the newly established emirate is in favour of better ambassadorial and trade relations with all the countries.
He categorically rejected reports that the Taliban government was against having trade relations with a certain country. “All talk of severing trade links with a certain country is baseless,” he announced.
Meanwhile, the Taliban’s spokesman at its Qatar office Suhail Shaheen has said that there is no space for the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in Afghanistan following the establishment of an Islamic emirate in the country.
The Taliban have tried to reassure fearful Afghans — and a wary international community — that this time around they will be “positively different”, but their reputation precedes them and few trust the group.
The Taliban are “committed” to the rights of women, who will be able to work and study, the group’s spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid had earlier said.
The Taliban have promised that they will end the narcotics industry in Afghanistan, one of the world’s hubs for the production and trafficking of drugs such as heroin.
It may take some doing, especially if their new government does not have the same access to financial reserves and foreign aid that have sustained Afghanistan’s fragile economy for two decades.
And despite their claims to the contrary, UN monitors say the illicit drugs industry has been one of the biggest sources of revenue for the Taliban, bringing in hundreds of millions of dollars, according to estimates published last year.
