 "Taliban fighters speak with a boy during the Eid al-Adha prayers the Shah-Do Shamshira Mosque in Kabul, Afghanistan. AP")
On Saturday, a top Taliban official declared that any Afghans who fled the country following the collapse of the old Western-backed government are free to return, and that they will not be harmed if they do.
Taliban Prime Minister Mohammad Hassan Akhund announced the amnesty offer in a message for the Islamic festival of Eid al-Adha, also known as the “Feast of Sacrifice.”
The offer comes only days after US President Donald Trump issued a broad travel ban targeting 12 nations, including Afghanistan. The proposal essentially excludes Afghans wishing to relocate in the United States permanently as well as those hoping to visit the country temporarily, such as for university studies.
Trump also suspended a core refugee program in January, all but ending support for Afghans who had allied with the U.S. and leaving tens of thousands of them stranded.
Afghans in neighbouring Pakistan who are awaiting resettlement are also dealing with a deportation drive by the Islamabad government to get them out of the country. Almost a million have left Pakistan since October 2023 to avoid arrest and expulsion.
Akhund’s holiday message was posted on the social platform X.
“Afghans who have left the country should return to their homeland,” he said. “Nobody will harm them."
“Come back to your ancestral land and live in an atmosphere of peace,” he added, and instructed officials to properly manage services for returning refugees and to ensure they were given shelter and support.
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More ShortsHe also used the occasion to criticize the media for making what he said were “false judgements” about Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers and their policies.
“We must not allow the torch of the Islamic system to be extinguished,” he said. “The media should avoid false judgments and should not minimize the accomplishments of the system. While challenges exist, we must remain vigilant.”
The Taliban swept into the capital Kabul and seized most of Afghanistan in a blitz in mid-August 2021 as the U.S. and NATO forces were in the last weeks of their pullout from the country after 20 years of war.
The offensive prompted a mass exodus, with tens of thousands of Afghans thronging the airport in chaotic scenes, hoping for a flight out on the U.S. military airlift. People also fled across the border, to neighbouring Iran and Pakistan.
Among those escaping the new Taliban rulers were also former government officials, journalists, activists, those who had helped the U.S. during its campaign against the Taliban.