Turkey appreciates the Taliban’s moderate statements and their pledge not to revert back to their previous hardline rule, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said late Wednesday during a televised interview.
Erdoğan also added that Turkey still aims to maintain Kabul Hamid Karzai International Airport.
“We are making our plans in line with new realities in field, continuing negotiations accordingly,” Erdoğan said.
The group, known for its perverted interpretation of Shariah law, has been trying to assure the international community with moderate statements on women’s rights and other issues.
“We are open to cooperation. They have been very sensitive towards relations with Turkey and we hope their sensitivity will continue,” Erdoğan added.
Erdoğan also responded to recent allegations by main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) Chairperson Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu of a secret deal made between the president and his U.S. counterpart to do with Afghan refugees. Erdoğan underlined that the American Embassy had already rejected the accusation and "whoever claims such a thing needs to prove it or apologize."
On Tuesday, the Taliban's main spokesperson, Zabihullah Mujahid, told a news conference in Kabul that women would be allowed to work and study and "will be very active in society but within the framework of Islam."
During their 1996-2001 rule, the Taliban stopped women from working. Girls were not allowed to go to school and women had to wear burqas to go out, and then only when accompanied by a male relative.
Those who broke the rules sometimes suffered humiliation and public beatings by the Taliban's religious police.
Western leaders have said they will judge the new Taliban by their actions, including how they treat girls and women.
The Taliban declared the war in Afghanistan over after taking control of the presidential palace in Kabul, while Western nations scrambled Monday to evacuate their citizens amid chaos at Kabul Hamid Karzai International Airport as frantic Afghans searched for a way out.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said Sunday, "The Taliban have won with the judgment of their swords and guns, and are now responsible for the honor, property and self-preservation of their countrymen," after fleeing the country as the militants entered the capital virtually unopposed, saying he wanted to avoid bloodshed. The ensuing hours saw hundreds of Afghans desperate to leave Kabul airport.
"Today is a great day for the Afghan people and the mujahideen. They have witnessed the fruits of their efforts and their sacrifices for 20 years," Mohammad Naeem, the spokesperson for the Taliban's political office, told Qatar-based media outlet Al-Jazeera TV. "Thanks to God, the war is over in the country," he said.
It took the Taliban just over a week to seize control of the country after a lightning sweep that ended in Kabul as government forces, trained for two decades and equipped by the United States and others at a cost of billions of dollars, melted away.
