Updated September 15th, 2021 at 21:44 IST

Taliban mulling creation of regular army in Afghanistan, consultations on: Chief of Staff

Exactly a month after the Taliban reconquered Afghanistan, the group’s chief of staff on September 15 said that they were considering the creation of an army

Reported by: Aanchal Nigam
IMAGE: AP | Image:self
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Exactly a month after the Taliban reconquered Afghanistan, the group’s chief of staff, Qari Fasihuddin on September 15 said that the extremist group was now considering the creation of a regular army for the South Asian country, reported TOLO News citing a press conference. Fasihuddin reportedly also said that the consultations on the matter are presently taking place. Taliban’s chief of staff’s remarks came after the US spent $28 billion in providing weapons to Afghan security forces between 2002 and 2017. Now, weeks after Taliban capture, it is feared that virtually all the equipment has fallen into the Taliban's hands.

In July, United States President Joe Biden claimed that hundreds of thousands of uniformed American troops, around 300,000, were ready to defend Afghanistan. However, the said forces remained unsuccessful in stopping the Taliban. The so-called abandonment of military equipment in Afghanistan for the Taliban to use has triggered a fresh backlash against the US President. Fasihuddin’s remarks over setting up an army came after the Taliban announced that Panjshir has been taken over. It was also the last Afghan province that was left after the group marched into Kabul on August 15.

Taliban Brings Back 'Virtue And Vice' Ministry

Meanwhile, Taliban has now brought back the ‘Ministry of Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice’ in the country. Several years after the US-led military occupation in the country abolished the ‘Virtue and Vice’ ministry, the New York Post reported that the Taliban has marked its return which has triggered massive concerns among the Afghans. The shattered citizens in the war-ravaged nation remember the said ministry for its stringent interpretation of Islamic law.

Mohammad Yousuf, who heads the central zone of Afghanistan, as per ANI, said, “The main purpose is to serve Islam. Therefore, it is compulsory to have Ministry of Vice and Virtue...We will punish as per the Islamic rules. Whatever Islam guides us, we will punish accordingly. Islam has its rules for major sins.”

The return of the ‘Virtue and Vice’ ministry also comes decades even as Taliban’s last rule from 1996-2001 fears the Afghans. In what is called the ‘iron fist’ rule of the extremists, 20 years ago, women in Afghanistan were forces to wear a burqa, prohibited from going outdoors without a male companion. The so-called ‘moral police’ were deployed across the country in a bid to punish the violators with harsh punishments including flogging, amputations, public executions. Now, the same signs have begun reappearing in the country. 

(IMAGE: AP)

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Published September 15th, 2021 at 21:43 IST