In a written statement, Taliban supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada urged his officials to set aside their differences and serve Afghanistan properly, just ahead of the Eid al-Fitr holiday marking the end of Ramadan – AP News.
Public dissent within the Taliban is rare, but some senior figures have expressed their disagreement with the leadership’s decisions, especially the bans on education for women.
Akhundzada and his entourage were instrumental in imposing restrictions on women and girls, which caused an international outcry and isolated the Taliban on the world stage. His message was disseminated in seven languages, including Uzbek and Turkmen, and touched on diplomatic relations, the economy, justice, charity and the virtues of meritocracy.
He stressed that Taliban officials should “live a brotherly life among themselves, avoid disagreements and selfishness.”
According to his statements, the war against the Soviet Union and communism failed because of disagreements within the Taliban and that they were unable to enforce Sharia law in Afghanistan because of these disagreements.
Despite mentioning the topic of education, he said nothing about opening schools and universities for girls and women. He also left out recent unconfirmed reports that stoning Afghan women to death for adultery, a punishment previously used during the Taliban’s first period of rule in the late 1990s, would be resumed.
In addition, in Saturday’s message he said security did not come from “being tough and killing more; rather, security is aligned with Shariah and justice.”
Hassan Abbas, a professor at the National Defence University in Washington D.C. and author of “Return of the Taliban,” said Akhundzada’s message sounded “largely reasonable” and was focused on governance and anti-corruption matters.
Earlier Saturday, the Taliban-controlled Supreme Court said six people, including a woman, were publicly flogged on charges of adultery in eastern Logar province.
