Afghanistan: Women can be educated up to university level, Taliban spokesman tells Sky News

Women in Afghanistan will have the right to work and be educated up to university level, a Taliban spokesman has told Sky News.

Suhail Shaheen said “thousands” of schools continue to operate, following the Taliban takeover.

Women will be expected to wear the hijab, but not the burka, he said, adding: “These are not our rules, these are Islamic rules”.

Afghanistan live updates: All the latest as the Taliban establish new government

He added: “It is for their security”.

The group has already announced a “general amnesty” in Afghanistan.

Mr Shaheen told Sky News those who had worked with the previous government: “Their properties will be saved and their honour and their lives are safe.”

Pressed on who would be leading the group in Afghanistan he said a consultation would be carried out, with a result expected in two to three days.

He said Mullah Baradar – one of the founders of the Taliban in the 1990s who is now its deputy leader – has arrived in Afghanistan.

When asked if women could hold political positions, he said: “Our policy is clear – they can have access to education and work, that is one thing.

“They (women) can hold positions, but that position they can hold is in the light of Islamic rule – so there is a general framework for them.”

He also delivered a message to Boris Johnson.

Asked by Sky News if he had a message for the prime minister, he said: “Yes. The UK prime minister and all leaders of the world, they should respect the aspiration of the people of Afghanistan. The people of Afghanistan, they fought for their freedom with their lives.

“So they should respect their aspiration and will of the people of Afghanistan. And help the people of Afghanistan in rebuilding the country.

“This is their obligation because they were behind the destruction of Afghanistan during the 20 years. It is their moral obligation to also help to reconstruct Afghanistan and to help the people to start a new life, and a new chapter in Afghanistan.”

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The US should withdraw all their forces from the country, but the Taliban is “committed not to attack them”, said Mr Shaheen, adding: “They have already violated the time frame which was enshrined in the Doha Agreement”.

And he insisted that no “group or individual” will be allowed to “use the asylum of Afghanistan” to organise terrorist activities.

Pressed on the images of people falling out of planes, he said the Taliban was not responsible.

He said people want to leave Afghanistan because it is a “poor country”.

The swift takeover of the Taliban had happened, Mr Shaheen said, because “we want what the people want.”

He continued: “Our demands are similar. Our culture is similar. Everything is similar. We are closer to the people rather than them (the previous government)”.

Asked how the Taliban can afford to run Afghanistan financially despite a reduced supply of international aid, he said: “We have huge natural resources. We have very hard-working people.

“We hope and we believe in our people and their capacities.”

But he said Afghanistan wanted to seek the cooperation of the international community to rebuild the country.

While it is not getting financial support from Pakistan, China or Russia, the Taliban has “good relations with them”, he said.

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