The Supreme Leader of the Taliban offers a prayer for the earthquake victims

The Taliban’s supreme leader performed Friday prayers for the victims of the earthquake in Afghanistan during a speech to Islamic clerics in Kabul.

The June earthquake killed more than 1,000 people in the eastern part of the country. State radio aired Haibatullah Akhundzadeh’s speech on Friday from a rally in Kabul, where thousands of Islamist clerics and tribal elders gathered for the first time since seizing power in Afghanistan in August. Women were not allowed to attend.

Akhundzadeh’s appearance added symbolic weight to the meeting and the decisions the group is considering about the future of Afghanistan. The Taliban is under international pressure to be more inclusive as it struggles with the humanitarian crises in Afghanistan.

The powerful earthquake killed more than 1,000 people in eastern Afghanistan, sparking yet another crisis for the faltering country, and further underlining the Taliban’s limited capabilities and isolation. Exhausted aid groups already keeping millions of Afghans alive have rushed supplies for the earthquake victims, but most countries have responded tepidly to Taliban pleas for international help.

Akhundzadeh was the spiritual leader of the Islamic movement but remained a reclusive figure.

He rose from low profile to Taliban leader in a swift transition of power after a 2016 US drone strike killed his predecessor, Mullah Akhtar Mansour.

After his appointment as leader, Akhundzadeh gained the support of al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, who showered the cleric with praise, calling him the “Commander of the Faithful”.

The endorsement of Osama bin Laden’s heir helped seal his jihadist credentials with old Taliban allies.

The Taliban, which has maintained a full decision-making process since taking over the country, described the gathering in the capital, Kabul, as a forum for hearing a range of voices on the issues facing Afghanistan.

But all those who addressed the assembly – apparently the vast majority of those present – were Taliban officials and supporters, most of whom were Islamic clerics.

Women were not allowed to attend, although media reports indicated discussion of reopening girls’ schools. The Taliban’s supreme leader earlier this year banned girls after the sixth grade from attending school and issued a decree requiring women in public places to cover themselves completely, except for their eyes.

The Taliban’s deputy prime minister, Abdul Salam Hanafi, told state radio station RTA on Wednesday that the male delegates would represent the women. “When their sons are in the gathering, it means that they are also participating,” he said.

The meeting was held at the Loya Jirga at the Polytechnic University of Kabul. The Loya Jirga is a gathering of tribal chiefs and dignitaries, and it is a traditional Afghan way for local chiefs to have their grievances heard by the rulers. However, the Taliban in particular did not call the gathering a loya jirga, instead calling it the “Great Conference of Scholars,” the Islamic term for scholars and clerics.

Cutting international funding to Afghanistan has deepened the country’s economic collapse and fueled its humanitarian crises. Millions in the country depend on international aid to get enough food to live.

The meeting comes as finance and central bank officials from the Taliban-led government are meeting with US officials in Qatar to discuss economic issues and aid in the wake of last week’s earthquake.

The Washington Post first reported on Tuesday that top Biden administration officials are working with the Taliban leadership on a mechanism to allow the Afghan government to use central bank reserves to deal with the country’s severe hunger and poverty crises while instituting safeguards to ensure that funds are not misused. .

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