Afghanistan flag-waving protests versus Taliban kills several as flag-waving protesters took to the streets of greater Afghan cities on Thursday as famous opposition to the Taliban spread, and a witness said several people were killed while the militants fired on a crowd in Asadabad within the east.
“Our flag, our identity,” a crowd of males and females waving black, purple and inexperienced national flags shouted inside the capital Kabul, a video clip published on social media confirmed, at the day Afghanistan celebrates independence from British control in 1919.
A witness stated gunshots fired close to the rally, but they regarded to be armed Taliban shooting within the air.
One woman walked with an Afghan flag wrapped round her shoulders, and those marching chanted “God is best”. At a few protests some other place, media has stated people tearing down the white flag of the Taliban.
A Taliban spokesman turned into now not right away available for remark.
Afghanistan flag-waving protests versus Taliban kills several
Some of the demonstrations are small, however, mixed with the continuing scramble by using thousands of humans to get to Kabul airport and flee the united states, they underline the venture the Taliban face to govern the united states of america.
The Islamist militant motion conquered Afghanistan in lightning velocity as foreign troops withdrew, surprising even its leaders and leaving them to fill a strength vacuum in many places.
Since seizing Kabul on Sunday, the Taliban have provided a more moderate face to the world, announcing they need peace, will not take revenge towards old enemies and could admire the rights of ladies inside the framework of Islamic regulation.
During their previous rule from 1996-2001, they critically limited ladies’s rights, staged public executions and blew up ancient Buddhist statues.
In Asadabad, capital of the jap province of Kunar, numerous people have been killed at some point of a rally, however it became now not clean if the casualties resulted from Taliban firing or from a stampede that it precipitated, witness Mohammed Salim said.
Afghanistan flag-waving protests versus Taliban kills several
“Hundreds of people came out at the streets,” Salim said. “At first I changed into scared and didn’t need to go but after I saw one among my neighbours joined in, I took out the flag I have at domestic.
“Several humans had been killed and injured within the stampede and firing via the Taliban.”
Protests also flared up in the town of Jalalabad and a district of Paktia province, both additionally in the east.
On Wednesday, Taliban opponents fired at protesters waving flags in Jalalabad, killing three, witnesses and media suggested. Media reported comparable scenes in Asadabad and some other eastern metropolis, Khost, on Wednesday.
First Vice President Amrullah Saleh, who is trying to rally opposition to the Taliban, expressed support for the protests.
Afghanistan flag-waving protests versus Taliban kills several
“Salute those who deliver the countrywide flag and as a result stand for dignity of the country,” he stated on Twitter.
Saleh stated on Tuesday he was in Afghanistan and the “legitimate caretaker president” after President Ashraf Ghani fled because the Taliban took Kabul.
In an op-ed for the Washington Post, Ahmad Massoud, leader of the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan primarily based inside the vintage anti-Taliban stronghold of the Panjshir Valley northeast of Kabul, called for Western guide to fight the Taliban.
“I write from the Panjshir Valley nowadays, equipped to observe in my father’s footsteps, with mujahideen warring parties who're organized to over again take at the Taliban,” wrote Massoud, the son of Ahmad Shah Massoud, a veteran guerrilla chief killed by suspected al Qaeda militants in 2001.
Other former Afghan leaders such as ex-president Hamid Karzai had been holding talks with the Taliban as they prepare a brand new government.
While Kabul has been generally calm for the reason that Taliban forces entered on Sunday, the airport has been in chaos as people rushed for a manner in a foreign country.
Afghanistan flag-waving protests versus Taliban kills several
Twelve people had been killed in and across the airport considering the fact that then, a NATO and a Taliban respectable stated. The deaths have been brought on either by way of gunshots or via stampedes, in step with the Taliban professional.
He entreated folks that do now not have the prison proper to travel to go domestic. “We don’t want to hurt everyone on the airport,” said the Taliban legitimate, who declined to be recognized.
In one scene captured on social media, a small girl turned into hoisted over the airport’s excessive perimeter wall and handed to a U.S. Soldier standing protect, underlining the desperation many humans felt.
On Wednesday, witnesses stated Taliban gunmen averted humans from stepping into the airport compound. A Taliban legitimate stated squaddies had fired into the air to disperse the gang.
Gunmen unleashed sustained hearth into the air on Thursday at numerous entrances to the airport, sending the crowds, including women clutching babies, scattering. It was now not clear if the guys firing had been Taliban or protection staff assisting U.S. Forces inside.
Afghanistan flag-waving protests versus Taliban kills several
The United States and different Western powers pressed on with the evacuation in their nationals and a number of their Afghan workforce from the capital’s airport, from in which about eight,000 human beings were flown out given that Sunday, a Western safety reputable stated.
Under a % negotiated remaining 12 months by former President Donald Trump’s administration, the US agreed to withdraw its forces in alternate for a Taliban assure they could no longer let Afghanistan be used to launch terrorist assaults.
The Taliban also agreed no longer to attack foreign forces as they left.
U.S. President Joe Biden said U.S. Forces could continue to be till the evacuation of Americans turned into finished, even if that intended staying past an Aug. 31 U.S. Closing date for withdrawal.
