The leader of the Taliban Haibarullah Akhundzada Photo: Afghan Islamic Press / AP / Profimedia
The Kabul Taliban government urged Afghans on a life in the US on Saturday to return to Afghanistan, after US President Donald Trump has tightened entry and residence restrictions, AFP reports.
“Those who are worried and say that America has closed their doors in front of the Afghan people (…), I want to tell them to return to their country, even though the Americans have served for 20 or 30 years,” said Prime Minister Afghan Akhund, in a speech at Kabul on the occasion of Muslim Eid Al-Adha.
“Go home, we will not have problems, we promise you!”, He assured, adding that the Supreme leader of the Taliban, the Hibatullah Akhundzada, “offered amnesty for all.”
Although the Taliban government, returned to power in 2021, promised the amnesty of the Afghans who collaborated with the Western forces during the war (2001-2021), the UN reported cases of executions and disappearances.
In the almost four years since he was in power in Afghanistan, the Taliban government has imposed its radical Islamic approach, has forbidden numerous activities and has restricted women's rights to what a UN describes as a “gender apartheid policy.”
Hundreds of thousands of Afghans fled abroad
During this time, hundreds of thousands of Afghans demanded visas in the US, as refugees or based on their collaboration with American troops who were forced to leave Afghanistan precipitated, leaving behind local collaborators when the Taliban occupied Kabul in August 2021.
These former collaborators left in Afghanistan are currently forced to move to neighboring countries, usually in Pakistan, to address the Western embassies who have left the Kabul after the Taliban returns to power.
But with the return of Donald Trump to the White House earlier this year, their chances of emigrating to the US or staying there gradually decreased. Washington first suspended the entry of refugees, then announced that it will revoke the temporary protection status for thousands of Afghans in the US. The new entry restrictions, now imposed for about 20 countries, further reduce their chances of settling there.
The Kabul government declared last month that he is ready to talk to Washington about the repatriation of Afghan refugees, whose temporary protection is to be revoked in July.
The executive led by the Taliban has not yet been officially recognized by any country, especially due to the negative situation of the rights of women in Afghanistan. However, Russia, Pakistan, China, Iran and most of the countries in Central Asia are de facto diplomatic relations with Afghan authorities.
Last month Russia withdrew the Taliban from its list with terrorist organizations. In October last year, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov asked the West to raise the sanctions imposed on Afghanistan and to take responsibility for the reconstruction of this country devastated by decades of war.
