Amrullah Saleh, the former Vice President of Afghanistan, has accused the Taliban of harassing and extorting Afghans under the pretext of offering them “pardon certificates’.
On Wednesday, November 10, Sales took to Twitter to allege that he has been receiving reports of Taliban thugs barging into the houses of people in Kabul and selling them handwritten ‘pardon certificates’. The certificates, Sales claims, are valid only until the turn of the next thug, who forces them to buy another so-called certificate for amnesty. The former Vice President once again blamed Pakistan for aiding the Taliban’s resurgence in Afghanistan.
“Every day we get evidential reports of Talib thugs entering homes of people in Kabul& other cities to sell hand written “pardon certificates”. The pardon certificates work until d turn of the next thug. This vicious cycle is forcing millions to leave. Pak’s gift to Afg ppl,” said Saleh in a tweet.
Saleh says there are many reasons for people to flee Afghanistan, one of them being the harassment and extortion they face at the hands of assorted Talib thugs. He further added that the installation of a headless regime in Afghanistan was one of Pakistan’s demands.
Taliban announces general “amnesty” after taking control of Kabul
Days after effectively taking control of Afghanistan, terror outfit Taliban had declared an “amnesty” across the country and urged women to return to work, in a bid to reassure the wary population worried over their fate under the Talibani regime.
The amnesty was announced to calm nerves across the restive country that was in the tumult following the swift and lightning offensive carried out by the Taliban in August 2021. The campaign saw the Taliban coming back to power in Afghanistan after the fall of the US-backed Ashraf Wani government in Kabul. Thousands had fled the country fearing a return to the repressive regime of the 1990s. Those who couldn’t are living under a palpable fear of persecution at the hands of their Talibani masters.
“A general amnesty has been declared for all…so you should start your routine life with full confidence,” a statement issued by the Taliban had said.
Enamullah Samangani, a member of the Taliban’s cultural commission, tried to allay fear among Afghan residents by asserting that the Islamic Emirate, the Taliban’s term for Afghanistan, doesn’t want women to be victims. “They should be in the government structure according to Shariah law,” he said. However, it seems individual Taliban members and groups are now using this amnesty to terrorise people and extort money from them, as they have started selling ‘pardon certificates’ to citizens.
Pakistan and the Taliban share a symbiotic relationship: Amrullah Saleh
Over the years, Saleh has not minced his words in voicing his acerbic and forthright assessment of Pakistan. He has remained one of the most trenchant critics of Pakistan, accusing them of assisting the Taliban and deceiving its western allies by using the alms and grants it receives from them in arming the terrorists. In his interviews following the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, Saleh had blamed Pakistan for helping the Taliban fool the international community by participating in Doha talks, while using that time to prop up military powers.
“Pakistan was not only a safe haven for the Taliban terrorists but the entire country was under the service of the terror group. The US tried to persuade Pakistan into cooperation, often by offering them incentives, but the more they paid, the more it emboldened the Pakistanis to extend their support to the Taliban tacitly. Therefore, the issue of a nuclear state facilitating and promoting terrorism and insurgency against western allies in Afghanistan was never really addressed,” Saleh opined.