KABUL: Taliban is again making headlines for its cryptic practices the latest being a Talibani commander using a military helicopter to take his newlywed bride home, media reported citing sources.
According to local sources in Logar province, the commander allegedly flew his newlywed bride from Logar to Khost province, in eastern Afghanistan, using a military helicopter.
As per Afghanistan’s local media, Khaama Press, the Talibani figure was referred to as a commander of the Haqqani branch of the Taliban on social media. The sources claimed that he resides in Khost and that his wife’s residence is in the Barki Barak district of Logar in the east of Afghanistan.
Providing further details of the situation, the sources said that the commander flew his wife on Saturday, to the Shah Mazar region of the Barki Barak district of Logar province. The wife of the Taliban commander was seen being transported in a military helicopter.
In a video that went viral on social media, the commander is seen landing near a house. Furthermore, it is claimed that this commander gave his father-in-law 1,200,000 Afghanis as dowry in exchange for his daughter’s hand in marriage, as per the media portal.
However, defending the commander, the Taliban’s deputy spokesperson, Qari Yusuf Ahmadi, argued that the allegations are false. He further termed the commentary on the commander as “propaganda of the enemy”. He added that the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan dismisses the allegation of a military helicopter being used by the Talibani commander.
People on social media registered their protest over the viral video that was circulated on social media. It incited outrage among the public. People condemned the action and said that it is a blatant misuse of public property.
This occurred after the Taliban have been in control for almost a year, but the group has notably failed to establish a government and gain domestic legitimacy and international recognition.
Taliban is also infamous for its crackdown on women’s rights. The list of Taliban violations of the rights of women and girls is long and growing, said Heather Barr, Women’s Rights Division at Human Rights Watch (HRW), as she raised growing concerns about the violation of the rights in the country.
When the Taliban announced in May that women and girls should not leave their homes unless necessary and should do so only with their whole bodies including their faces covered, only a few were surprised. Others, who lived through the last period of Taliban rule from 1996 to 2001, were not.
“Some diplomats and other Afghanistan watchers who listened to Taliban leaders promise during negotiations and at their news conference two days after seizing the capital that they would respect all women’s rights this time, including their freedom of movement and access to employment and education,” Barr had said.
She said Afghan women’s rights activists warned all along that the Taliban’s promises to respect women’s rights were false. Afghan rights activists warned in the days after the Taliban took the capital, Kabul, on August 15, 2021, that the group would intensify their crackdown on women.” The list of Taliban violations of the rights of women and girls is long and growing,” the high-ranking HRW official said.
Since the Taliban takeover, there have been many statements condemning their abuses from an impressive range of international and regional organizations and countries. What there has not been, however, is a clear plan for how the countries condemning Taliban abuses will work together to defend the rights of Afghan women and girls and pressure the Taliban to end these abuses.
