Taliban announce `general amnesty` for Afghan government officials, tell them to return to work

KABUL: The Taliban has declared a “general amnesty for all government officials’’ and urged them to return to work immediately. "A general amnesty has been declared for all... so you should start your routine life with full confidence," a statement released by the Taliban said.

The announcement came two days after the Taliban seized power following a lightning sweep through the country within a span of few days after the US announced to withdraw its troops from the war-ravaged country.

A day after taking over Kabul, Afghan fighters were seen enjoying rides in an amusement park in Afghanistan. The Taliban soldiers were seen riding electric bumper cars with weapons in their hands. In a separate video, they were also seen riding play horses in the park.

Amid fast-paced developments in Afghanistan, MEA Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi on Tuesday said that in view of the prevailing circumstances, it has been decided that India's Ambassador in Kabul and his Indian staff will move to India immediately.

In other developments, senior Taliban leader Amir Khan Muttaqi is said to be in the Afghan capital negotiating with Kabul's political leadership, including Abdullah Abdullah, who once headed the country's negotiating council, and former President Hamid Karzai.

Muttaqi was a higher education minister when the Taliban last ruled and he began making contacts with Afghan political leaders even before Afghan President Ashraf Ghani secretly slipped away from the Presidential Palace on the weekend, leaving a devastating vacuum that Taliban who were surrounding the city strode in to fill.

Hours after expressing hope that the Taliban will form an "open and inclusive" Islamic government and ensure a smooth transition in Afghanistan, China has warned the Afghan militant group against the country once again becoming a "haven" for terrorists.

The remarks by China's deputy permanent representative to the UN, Geng Shuang, came during an emergency meeting of the Security Council on the situation in Afghanistan on Monday after the sudden and rapid takeover of the Afghanistan government by the Taliban insurgents.

"Afghanistan must never again become a haven for terrorists. This is the bottom line that must be held firmly for any future political solution in Afghanistan," Geng told an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on the situation in Afghanistan held under India's presidency.

"We hope that the Taliban in Afghanistan will earnestly deliver on their commitments and make a clean break with the terrorist organisations," the state-run Xinhua news agency quoted him as saying.

"All countries should fulfil their obligations in accordance with international law and Security Council resolutions, work with each other in combating terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, and take resolute actions to prevent terrorist organisations such as the Islamic State, al-Qaida and the ETIM from taking advantage of this chaos (in Afghanistan)."

The East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM), which is stated to be an affiliate of al-Qaeda, is a militant group from China's volatile Xinjiang province. It is fighting for the independence of the province, which is home to 10-million Uygur Muslims.

The UNSC al-Qaeda Sanctions Committee has listed ETIM as a terrorist organisation in 2002. The former Trump administration had removed the group from the US' list of terrorist organisations in 2020 amid allegations of human rights violations against Uygur Muslims by China in Xinjiang, including interning thousands of them in mass detention centres, which Beijing terms as education camps.

The US has termed China's security crackdown in Xinjiang as genocide against Uygur Muslims. According to a recent UN report, hundreds of militants belonging to the ETIM are converging in Afghanistan amidst the military advances made by the Taliban.

Xinjiang shares borders with Afghanistan, Pakistan-occupied Kashmir besides Central Asian countries of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. China is banking on its all-weather ally Pakistan to pressure the Taliban to prevent the regrouping of ETIM militants on Xinjiang borders to stir up trouble there.

Critics say China is sceptical about the Taliban's will and ability to clamp down on groups like al-Qaeda and ETIM due to religious and ideological affiliations.

Blaming the chaos in Afghanistan to the hasty withdrawal of the troops by the US, Geng told the Security Council on Monday that the current humanitarian situation in Afghanistan is very dire.