New Delhi: The National Resistance Front (NRF), which has stonewalled the march of the Taliban towards northern Afghanistan for over a year, today asked the global community to come together and save the country from “a deeper and wider catastrophe”.
The NRF issued the appeal in the wake of the Taliban regime banning women from entering universities and working in non-governmental organisations.
In a statement, it said it has been “informing and warning the neighbouring countries and the international community about the nature of the Taliban and their terroristic goals, violent trans-regional extremism and short and long-term consequences of their rule over Afghanistan.”
Led by Ahmad Massoud, son of the legendary Afghan leader Ahmad Shah Massoud, NRF is based in Panjshir Valley in north Afghanistan which the Taliban have failed to capture despite numerous attempts after seizure of power in Kabul in August last year.
In fact, the Taliban had failed to conquer the Panjshir Valley even during its earlier tryst with power in Kabul from 1996 to 2001 because of the strong resistance led by Ahmad Shah Massoud, who was also called the ‘Lion of Panjshir’.
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“Recent Taliban’s measures, such as banning women’s education and employment, which will certainly not be the last measures, are set to worsen the living conditions of the country’s people and intensify instability contrary to national and international values,” the NRF statement said.
“Banning women’s education and work erodes the future of half of the society. It causes not only further ignorance, misery, and poverty, but also presents the worst image of the country and the people of Afghanistan to the world,” it said.
Referring to the ban imposed on participation of women in charitable and NGOs, the NRF said, “The Taliban’s action has forced the majority of important aid organisations to suspend their services and thousands of women and their families lose their source of earnings.”
It added, “The humanitarian aid provided by the international charities, despite its abuse and manipulation by the Taliban, has been the most important source of funding for the daily livelihood of a large number of compatriots.”
Highlighting that millions of people of Afghanistan are fed up with the brutality and oppressive rule of the Taliban, the NRF said, “It is now imperative for the global community to come together and take united, responsible and forward-looking steps to save Afghanistan from a deeper and wider catastrophe”.
Meanwhile, the Massoud Foundation USA, which was founded in Kabul in 2003 to “preserve and spread the values, leadership and ideals” of Ahmad Shah Massoud after his killing by the Taliban, has announced launching of online school to counteract the Taliban’s ban on women’s education in Afghanistan.
