Taliban leader urges his men to treat the public “with empathy and kindness”

In his Eid-ul-Fitr facilitation statement, the Taliban leader called on his men to treat the general public with compassion, empathy, and kindness.

In the statement, the leader instructed all Taliban members “to treat the general public with compassion, empathy and kindness, not become a cause for their grievance and annoyance, not engage in arrogance and cruelty, not abuse power and resources to harm the people, strictly refrain from entertaining any sense of privilege, ambition, and superiority and to consider every Afghan a brother and show them respect.”

This is the first statement where the Taliban leader does not order his men to resort to violence; however, there is no clear mention of violence or charge of war and/or a ceasefire during Eid days.

Also, this statement is his first since the signing of the US-Taliban agreement.

Pointing at the future political system in Afghanistan, meaning post-intra-Afghan negotiations, the statement underlines that it does not have a monopolist policy.

It writes, “Every male and female member of the society shall be given their due rights, none shall feel any sense of deprivation or injustice and all work necessary for the welfare, durability, and development of society will be addressed in the light of divine Shariah law.”

The Taliban leader calls on the United States to implement the Doha agreement, noting, “I urge American officials to not afford anyone the opportunity to obstruct, delay and ultimately derail this internationally recognized bilateral agreement.”