Kabul holds its breath: the follow-up to Tuesday, August 17
Kabul has started a new day under the rule of the Taliban. A few stores have reopened but the administration offices are closed. Car traffic has resumed but many Afghans remain holed up at home, especially women. The men swapped their western clothes for the shalwar kameez, the loose traditional Afghan dress. State television now mainly broadcasts Islamic programs.
Taliban number two, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, has returned to Afghanistan. He was the military leader of the Taliban when he was arrested in 2010 in Pakistan. He was released in 2018, particularly under pressure from Washington.
George W. Bush calls on the United States to evacuate threatened Afghans.
The Taliban hold checkpoints across the city. They announced a “general amnesty” for civil servants on Tuesday morning and called on them to return to work.
President Joe Biden “firmly” defended the American withdrawal from Afghanistan on Monday evening (Swiss time). Washington's mission has never been to build a democratic nation in the unstable country, according to him, but "to prevent a terrorist attack on American soil". At most he admitted that the country had fallen "faster than expected" into the hands of the Taliban.
On this topic: Joe Biden on Afghanistan: “I have no regrets”
After the scenes of panic on Monday at Kabul airport and the suspension of flights, civilian and military planes were able to take off overnight. France and Germany have sent soldiers to secure the evacuation operations. Twenty-eight Swiss nationals are still in Afghanistan
■ Demonstration in front of the UN building in Geneva
Nearly 300 people demonstrated this afternoon in Place des Nations, Geneva, against the victory of the Taliban. In front of the UN building, they called on the international community to support the Afghan people.
The demonstrators, most of them of Afghan origin, came from all over Switzerland. “Stop terrorism”, “We want peace”, “Kabul is bleeding”, “Afghan lives matter” or even “Switzerland must not remain silent”, could be read on signs written in several languages.
The speakers took turns at the microphone. Speaking mainly in Farsi, but also in German, French and English, they notably warned against the fate that the Taliban will reserve for women, depriving them of all freedom. “We have the same rights as other peoples,” a tearful speaker said.
■ Taliban's first press conference since arriving in Kabul
“We don't want any internal or external enemies,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said. in front of journalists. He also said that the Islamic community is committed to respecting women's rights under Sharia.
■ Ex-vice president Amrullah Saleh declares himself the country's interim president
The country's ex-chief spy, a sworn enemy of the ruling Islamists in Kabul, withdrew to the last region not yet in their hands: the Panchir Valley, northeast of the capital. The former vice-president promised that he would not submit to them under any circumstances, even going so far as to declare himself the legitimate president on Tuesday.
■ Taliban number two returned to Afghanistan
Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, co-founder and number two of the Taliban, returned to Afghanistan on Tuesday from Qatar where he headed the political office of the movement.
“A high-level delegation led by Mullah Baradar left Qatar and reached our beloved country this afternoon and landed at Kandahar airport,” in southern Afghanistan, said on Twitter Mohammad Naeem, a Taliban spokesman.
This is the first time a very senior active Taliban leader has publicly returned to Afghanistan since they were ousted from power by a US-led coalition in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks .
Abdul Ghani Baradar, born in the province of Uruzgan (south) and who grew up in Kandahar, is the co-founder of the Taliban with Mullah Omar, who died in 2013 but whose death had been hidden for two years.
■ The Afghan diaspora mobilizes
■ Poll: American support for troop withdrawal collapses
Faced with images of distress coming from Kabul after the Taliban victory, American support for the withdrawal of their troops from Afghanistan has dropped sharply and half of those questioned disapprove of the way Joe Biden led this departure.
Only 49% of 1,999 voters polled by Politico and Morning Consult from August 13-16 support the US president's decision to leave the country, compared to 69% in April when Joe Biden announced that all US soldiers would leave Afghanistan by September 11.
Now 51% of voters surveyed criticize the way Joe Biden handled this departure. And 45% believe that the United States should not withdraw its troops if this departure allows the Taliban to regain control of the country, as it finally happened.
■ Afghan currency plunges
The Afghani plunges against the dollar, as the Taliban's rise to power prompted the central bank governor to leave Afghanistan. It takes 86 Afghanis on Tuesday afternoon to buy a dollar, where it only took 80 last Friday, a drop of more than 6%, according to a compilation by the Bloomberg agency.
It was on this day that the Afghan central bank, Da Afghanistan Bank, learned that the "deliveries of dollars were interrupted", accentuating the concern on the local market, said its governor Ajmal Ahmady on Twitter.
■ Berlin concerned about Taliban checks at Kabul airport
“Around Kabul airport, security posts have been set up by the Taliban to control access to it”, indicates the German Ministry of Defense in a report of which AFP obtained a copy. Foreign Minister Heiko Maas added at a press conference that there was “no guarantee” from the Taliban that local Afghan personnel ready to be evacuated by Berlin would be “allowed to pass ".
■ NATO blames 'failure of Afghan authorities'
NATO forces have been surprised by the 'political and military collapse of recent weeks, with rapid which had not been anticipated”, recognized the Norwegian official during a press conference. He blamed the Taliban's takeover on "the failure of the Afghan authorities" and defended the Alliance's commitment, while acknowledging that "lessons" should be learned.
In the immediate term, NATO is trying to “guarantee the security” of its civilian personnel and its Afghan employees present on the spot. “About 800 civilians working for NATO remained (in Kabul) to carry out crucial functions in very complicated circumstances, including air traffic, fuel management and communications,” he added.
■ George W. Bush: The United States has “the responsibility” to evacuate threatened Afghans
The United States has “the responsibility and the means” to evacuate the Afghans who helped them in Afghanistan, believes the former president. “The Afghans most at risk today are the very people who have been at the forefront of progress in their country,” wrote the man who launched the American offensive in Afghanistan 20 years ago in a press release.
“We have the responsibility and the means to ensure their safe exit now, without bureaucratic delay,” he said, recalling that “President Biden promised to evacuate these Afghans”.
■ Beijing raises its tone towards the United States
China, neighbor of Afghanistan, accuses the United States of “leaving a terrible mess” with its withdrawal, the seizure control of the Taliban which notably led to scenes of chaos at Kabul airport. Beijing has said it is willing to have relations with the new Afghan regime.
“They left a terrible mess, left these places – Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan – in a disastrous state. The power and function of the United States is to destroy, not to build,” quipped Hua Chunying, a spokeswoman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, in reference to Joe Biden’s remarks.
■ Russia and Turkey consider the Taliban's signals “positive”
Russia considers that the Taliban sends positive signals in terms of freedoms and power sharing. "The fact that the Taliban in Kabul proclaim and demonstrate in practice their readiness to respect the opinions of others constitutes, in my opinion, a positive signal," said the head of Russian diplomacy Sergei Lavrov.
Turkey is in talks with the radical Islamist movement. “We positively welcome the messages sent so far by the Taliban, whether to foreigners and diplomatic representations, but also to their own people,” Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Cavusoglu said during a meeting. a joint press conference with his Jordanian counterpart Ayman Safadi, in Amman.
■ Uzbekistan warns against any violation of its border
Uzbekistan is negotiating on this point with the Taliban. “We also resolutely declare that any attempt to violate national borders will be firmly repressed,” the Uzbek Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Uzbekistan established contacts with the Taliban before they regained control of Afghanistan, wanting to avoid any spillover into its territory. Above all, the former Soviet republic of Central Asia wants to avoid the emergence of armed groups inspired or supported by Afghan Islamists, as was the case in the late 1990s and 2000s.
■ Germany suspends development aid
“Government development cooperation is currently suspended,” Development Minister Gerd Müller said in an interview with the regional daily Rheinische Post . According to the head of diplomacy, Germany pays a total of 430 million euros in aid to this country each year.
■ Kabul airport on Tuesday
■ The Taliban continue talks for a future government
Talks to expand a future Afghan government to the beyond just members of the Taliban are continuing in Kabul. Officials involved in Tuesday's talks are hoping for "good news" within a day or two. Taliban senior leader Amir Khan Muttaqi has already held several rounds of talks with Kabul's political leaders, including Abdullah Abdullah, who once headed the country's Negotiating Council, and former President Hamid Karzai, reports The Times. of India.
■ Strong words from the German president on the situation in Kabul: “a shame for the West”
The scenes of distress at Kabul airport are “a shame for the West”, judge the German president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
He insisted on the "human tragedy" experienced by the Afghans who are desperately trying to leave the country and "for which we are jointly responsible".
Germany, which like other Western countries is trying in confusion to mount an evacuation operation, "must do everything in its power to secure" its nationals "as well as all the Afghans who have supported for years,” he said.
■ UN calls on countries to ban the return of Afghans to their country
Forced returns of Afghan nationals to their country, including asylum seekers whose claim has been rejected, should be prohibited according to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). "UNHCR calls on states to end the forced returns of Afghan nationals who have previously been determined not to be in need of international protection," spokeswoman Shabia Mantoo said during a briefing. press in Geneva.
Civil society is also mobilizing to welcome Afghans. In less than 24 hours, more than 6,800 people signed an online petition in favor of the immediate admission of Afghans to Switzerland. It asks the Confederation to welcome at least 5000 people, who seek protection.
■ Twenty-eight Swiss nationals still there
The Swiss embassy in Pakistan, which has consular responsibility in Afghanistan, is in contact with 28 people. The three Swiss active in the SDC office in Kabul were able to leave the country with their German counterparts in a plane chartered by the United States.
The FDFA is working intensively to allow the departure of local employees of the Swiss cooperation office and their immediate families, he added. Difficult access to Kabul airport and air traffic restrictions do not make things any easier, the situation at the airport remains “very volatile”.
■ Evacuations: France exfiltrates 45 people
Western countries are having difficulty repatriating their citizens. A German military plane that was able to land there overnight from Uzbekistan only managed to take seven people with it in the end, while hundreds of others are waiting to reach Germany .
“Due to the chaotic environment at the airport and frequent firefights at the entrance, it was not possible to bring other Germans and people to be evacuated to the site,” said said a spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
An Airbus A310 is expected Tuesday afternoon at Roissy Charles-de-Gaulle airport, with 45 French nationals and partner countries exfiltrated from Kabul by the French authorities on board, the Ministry told AFP. French of the armies. Earlier in the morning, the Minister of the Armed Forces Florence Parly announced the arrival in the Emirates of the first exfiltrate. With this first flight, “we have laid the foundations for an air bridge between Kabul and the United Arab Emirates”.
Both France and Germany have landed special forces to help secure the evacuation operations.
■ Afghan media trying to adapt
Some Afghan TV channels have pulled their female presenters from the sets. Others avoid playing music in their programs, says an Afghan journalist on Twitter.
But Afghan news outlet Tolonews still sends women journalists into the field. Yesterday, a Taliban official gave an interview to a journalist from a news channel.
■ Berlin puts pressure on NATO
Representatives of the security organization meet during the day on an emergency basis. "The question will arise for us whether we are ready to accept the consequences, to take measures that we have so far left to the Americans," said German Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer. the ZDF television channel.
Read about it: Facing the Taliban, a historic NATO debacle
This declaration comes a few hours after the position of Armin Laschet, leader of the German conservative party of Angela Merkel and candidate for her succession to the chancellery. He called Monday the withdrawal of Western troops “the biggest debacle […] of NATO since its creation” in 1949.
■ Taliban announces 'general amnesty' for civil servants and calls on them to return to work
“A general amnesty has been declared for all civil servants […], so you should resume your lifestyle with full confidence,” the Taliban wrote in a statement.
The Taliban also say they want to form an “inclusive” Islamic government with other factions. They negotiate with politicians, some of whom come from the former government.
■ Evacuations resumed
Military flights carrying off diplomats and civilians resumed this morning, according to a Western source quoted by Reuters.
Yesterday, heartbreaking scenes followed one another all day at the airport, of people desperately trying to get on a plane to leave, and sometimes losing their lives. Another image is taken up by many media this morning, broadcast by the specialized information site DefenseOne, that of an American plane which exceeded 2 to 3 times the official gauge to take a maximum of passengers. This flight on Sunday carried a large number of women and children to Qatar.
