Top officials of the Taliban-led government in Afghanistan marked 105 years of of the country’s independence on August 18 by demanding mutual respect from the international community.
Afghanistan gained its independence in August 1919 after the signing of the Anglo-Afghan Treaty, which ended British control over the country’s foreign affairs.
Afghanistan currently remains unrecognized internationally, largely because of the restrictions the Taliban-led government has placed on women since it returned to power in August 2021.
The anniversary of the signing of the Anglo-Afghan Treaty was marked at a meeting of top Taliban leaders in Kabul broadcast live by the Taliban-controlled National Radio and Television.
Mullah Mohammad Yaqoob, the Taliban’s acting defense minister, told the meeting that the government wants strong relations with the world based on mutual respect but will never give in to pressure.
He also said the Taliban, which seized power after the U.S.-backed government collapsed and its leaders fled into exile, will never allow the Islamic State and other destructive groups to create chaos in Afghanistan.
“Whether they are Daesh (Islamic State) or other rebels, they should hear…that we have not surrendered to anyone’s power at any cost. By any name, we have established the Islamic system in this land. We will defend it till death and the last century.”
The international community has previously expressed concern about the presence of the extremist Islamic State group in Afghanistan, while the Taliban has said it is the only group capable of ruling and establishing security in the country.
Hamid Karzai, who served as the first elected president of Afghanistan from 2004 to 2014, marked the anniversary of the signing of the treaty by calling on the Taliban to allow girls and women to attend school and university.
“I call on the caretaker Islamic government to open the doors of schools and universities in the country as soon as possible so that girls equipped with the jewels of knowledge can play their part in the development of the country alongside their brothers,” Karzai said on X. “Education and national unity are the forces that will keep the country strong.”
Since returning to power in August 2021, the Taliban has banned girls and women from studying beyond primary school.
The United Nations said on August 15 that at least 1.4 million girls in Afghanistan have been denied access to secondary education and this has almost wiped out two decades of steady progress for education in Afghanistan, leaving the future of an entire generation in jeopardy.
