Kabul: The new Taliban caretaker government is facing challenges as only a few days after taking charge, tensions flared with neighbouring Pakistan while Afghanistan's longstanding humanitarian crisis has also deepened, as per a report by The New York Times.
The Taliban is facing intense outrage from the people. Journalists, women and activists including university students, all are holding demonstrations against the outfit while the 'new government' is imposing restrictions to curb the voices rising against it.
"I told them I was a journalist and showed them my ID card, but they accused me of organizing the protests," an Afghan journalist said. "They took me into a room, tied my hands with a scarf and started beating me with a cable," he added.
Already facing international isolation, the Taliban are also struggling to deal with longstanding tensions on the Afghan-Pakistan border, where the Pakistani Army has continued to shell suspected militant hide-outs in recent days, The New York Times reported citing the Taliban and Pakistan officials.
Earlier this week, Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid had spoken about how Afghans are not in favour of a fence erected by Pakistan along the Durand Line. “The new Afghan government will announce its position on this issue. We want to create a secure and peaceful environment on the border so there is no need to create barriers,” Mujahid said, as per a report by Indian Express.
The outfit did not include any women in their 'cabinet' despite a number of demonstrations from women activists in the country which points out the 'regressive' and 'extremist' mindset of the Taliban.
On September 9, speaking at a news conference at the US airbase in Ramstein, Germany, Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken said that the new Taliban government "does not meet the test of inclusivity," and that it includes "people who have very challenging track records," The New York Times reported.
World Leaders are not showing any trust in the government formed by the Taliban and expressing that they believe in 'actions' and not 'words' of the Taliban.
Rights groups are also alarming authorities on the rising humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan and urging the international community to step into the country to tackle the problem.
A few days back, the Human Rights Watch (HRW) has said foreign donors should take immediate action to ensure that necessary aid reaches Afghans facing hunger and collapsing health services after the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan.
"Donor governments are understandably uneasy about providing assistance and funding to Afghanistan under the Taliban given their terrible rights record and newly emerging abuses," said Patricia Gossman, associate Asia director at HRW.
To prevent a dire situation from becoming even worse, donors should urgently agree to support international agencies and nongovernmental groups that can provide emergency aid for food, health, and education, and create a plan to address assistance directly involving the Taliban.
Meanwhile, the Taliban has also appointed an FBI wanted list criminal as the Interior Minister of the Afghan government, which has become a matter of concern for the US.
Experts believe that the nomination of FBI wanted criminal Sirajuddin Haqqani, as the Interior Minister of the caretaker the government of Afghanistan is a 'tight slap' on the US.
Not just the US but Russian ministers are also showing red flags on recognising the Taliban-formed government in Afghanistan. These remarks came from the Press Secretary of Russia when he was asked in what format Russia is planning to conduct negotiations with the Taliban.
A similar stand could be seen in several European countries.
