Taliban are willing to form a government that includes allies of Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, a senior Taliban spokesman, Suhail Shaheen said.
Gatekeepers News reports that Shaheen said the Taliban want an inclusive Afghan government, if not, they “will have fighting.”
In Shaheen’s words: “We want an inclusive government because that will guarantee a stable government in the country. Otherwise, we will have fighting.”
The Taliban have frequently refused to participate in elections and called on Afghans to boycott votes.
Shaheen, however, did not detail what an “inclusive” government means in practice or whether it amounted to a democracy.
Gatekeepers News reports that the Taliban have so far declined official negotiations with the Ghani administration, tagging it a “stooge” government.
Shaheen also said after the Taliban and the United States seal a deal that would have U.S troops withdraw from Afghanistan, the Taliban would take part in an “intra-Afghan” negotiation to establish a government in which all Afghans can participate.
He added that the Taliban would consider the Afghan government as one faction of the non-Taliban side but would still not recognize it as legitimate.
The Taliban’s claims come after years of restricting girls’ education and stopping women from working outside of the home unless accompanied by a male relative. And while in power, the Taliban persecuted religious and ethnic minorities — particularly Shiite Hazaras.
Shaheen told NBC News that the Taliban would guarantee women’s right to work and to study as is enshrined in Islamic law, but he did not give details on what this entails. While the Taliban has never explicitly forbidden women from going to school or work, in reality, it often limits girls to only a few years of schooling or bans them from education altogether, according to Human Rights Watch.
