: The Taliban Are Promising Inclusivity and Amnesty in Afghanistan. But Some Officials Predict Bloodshed #WorldNEWS As the black-turbaned mullahs of the Taliban gather in Kabul and Kandahar to hash out

The Taliban Are Promising Inclusivity and Amnesty in Afghanistan. But Some Officials Predict Bloodshed #WorldNEWS
As the black-turbaned mullahs of the Taliban gather in Kabul and Kandahar to hash out how theyll govern, the decisions they make will offer the world clues to whether they remain the same brutal regime that controlled Afghanistan before the U. S. invasion in 2001 or adopt a less extreme version of Islamic rule.
Change was not originally in the mullahs plans. While they declared an Islamic emirate in name Thursday, it was not clear they would bring back the rules and regulations of their former 1990s government, according to current and former U. S. and Western officials, that repressed women and used public amputations, beheadings and stonings as not only criminal punishments but also entertainment for a population denied access to television or music.
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But in recent years, as the Taliban held peace talks with the U. S. in Doha, its leaders were offered counsel by international and regional officials, who urged the group to temper its fundamentalist practices in the interest of winning international political recognition and aid and securing support from young and fairly sophisticated Afghans who bristle at their version of Islam.
Since the fall of Kabul, the militants have been in continued communication with U. S. peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad, the State Department said Thursday, as well as former Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Dr. Abdullah Abdullah, a senior member of the Ghani government the Taliban toppled. The Afghan officials have been arguing that the group will alienate the international community, and its own people, if it installs a purist interpretation of a religious emirate, with an appointed “emir for life” and an unelected shura council of mullahs ruling the country, according to current and former Afghan and Western officials briefed on the talks.
The Taliban is now in internal deliberations, with its triumphant military wing pushing for a more purist system and a political wing—which includes some of the negotiators from Doha—arguing in favor of a more “inclusive” Islamic system, according to regional officials familiar with the talks. We want an inclusive Islamic government in Afghanistan, Taliban spokesman in Doha Suhail Shaheen tells TIME. But he was not forthcoming with details, and a senior Taliban official told Reuters they may install a ruling council, with the movements supreme leader, Haibatullah Akhundzada, in charge, perhaps as “president. ” That’s similar to how they ruled from 1996 to 2001, with Mullah Omar as figurehead, and the council managing governance.
While the deal-making isn’t done, the group has signaled that they’ll likely retain the Afghan government bureaucracy to run the country, and ordered their followers to protect public property and extend amnesty to “all those who have previously worked for and helped the invaders,” or worked for “the corrupt Kabul Administration,” according to a statement released to TIME.