Just a week after taking over Kabul and at a time when there are talks on forming a new government, the Taliban said that former Afghan president Ashraf Ghani will be allowed to return to the country if he wished to.
The same applies for the deposed vice president, Amrullah Saleh, they said in a sign of extending their amnesty for all in the war-ravaged country.
Talking to Pakistan’s Geo News, senior Taliban leader Khalil ur Rahman Haqqani claimed that "there is no enmity" between the group and Ashraf Ghani, Amrullah Saleh and former national security advisor, Hamdullah Mohib.
"We forgive Ashraf Ghani, Amrullah Saleh and Hamdullah Mohib," said Haqqani, adding that enmity between the Taliban and the three was only on the basis of religion.
"We forgive everyone from our end; from the general [who fought in the war against us] to the common man," he said.
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On August 17, just two days after the Afghan government collapsed, the insurgents announced a “general amnesty” for government workers across Afghanistan and urged women to join its government.
However, there are reports that the Taliban have been conducting door-to-door searches to detain those who worked for Nato forces or the previous Afghan government.
Also, despite the pledge to honour the women within the Shariah law, two female journalists have allegedly been barred by them from working.
As people in groups kept on fleeing the country, the Taliban leader Haqqani urged them not to do so, adding that the "enemy" was spreading propaganda that the Taliban will exact revenge on them.
"Tajiks, Balochs, Hazaras and Pashtuns are all our brothers," he added.
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"All Afghans are our brothers and hence, they can return to the country," he said. "The sole reason for our enmity was driven by the ambition to change the system. The system has now changed," he added.
Haqqani said the Taliban were not the ones who went to war against the US, adding that the group had decided to take up arms against the US after it invaded their homeland and fought against its culture, religion and country.
"The Americans were using weapons against us, on our homeland," he said, adding that God gave the Taliban American weapons as the spoils of war.
Ashraf Ghani is in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the Gulf state's foreign ministry said on Wednesday.
In his first public comments on Sunday, he said he had left the country to avoid further bloodshed.
His whereabouts were unknown until Wednesday, with speculation that he had fled to Tajikistan, Uzbekistan or Oman.
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He said that the Taliban had achieved a huge victory over their enemies, adding that the Afghanistan Army consisted of 350,000 troops and was supported by the US, Nato and other countries.
'Highly capable, educated people to form Afghan govt'
Haqqani said the Taliban wanted all Muslim countries to reconcile with one another. He advised countries worldwide to provide due rights to their citizens, adding that an inclusive Afghan government will be formed in Afghanistan.
"Highly capable, educated people will form the government in Afghanistan," he vowed. "People who unite the masses will be included in the new government."
Promising a government that would represent all groups within Afghanistan, Haqqani said people from all schools of thought were pledging their allegiance to the Taliban.
