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Taliban violently disperse rare protest, killing one person

Published:Wednesday | August 18, 2021 | 9:31 AM
Taliban fighters patrol in the Wazir Akbar Khan neighbourhood in the city of Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday, August 18, 2021. The Taliban declared an "amnesty" across Afghanistan and urged women to join their government Tuesday, seeking to convince a wary population that they have changed a day after deadly chaos gripped the main airport as desperate crowds tried to flee the country. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The Taliban violently broke up a protest in eastern Afghanistan on Wednesday, killing at least one person as they quashed a rare public show of dissent.

The militant group meanwhile met with former officials from the toppled Western-backed government.

As officials work to shape a future government, the United Arab Emirates acknowledged that Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, who fled the Taliban advance, and his family were in that country.

The Taliban's every action in their sudden sweep to power is being watched closely.

They insist they have changed and won't impose the same draconian restrictions they did when they last ruled Afghanistan, all but eliminating women's rights, carrying out public executions and harbouring al-Qaida in the years before the 9/11 attacks.

But many Afghans remain deeply sceptical, and the violent response to Wednesday's protest could only fuel their fears.

Thousands are racing to the airport and borders to flee the country. Many others are hiding inside their homes, fearful after prisons and armouries were emptied during the insurgents' blitz across the country.

Dozens of people gathered in the eastern city of Jalalabad to raise the national flag a day before Afghanistan's Independence Day, which commemorates the end of British rule in 1919.

They lowered the Taliban flag — a white banner with an Islamic inscription — that the militants have raised in the areas they captured.

Video footage later showed the Taliban firing into the air and attacking people with batons to disperse the crowd.

Babrak Amirzada, a reporter for a local news agency, said he and a TV cameraman from another agency were beaten by the Taliban as they tried to cover the unrest.

A local health official said at least one person was killed and six wounded.

The official was not authorised to speak to the media and so spoke on condition of anonymity.

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