Sirajuddin Haqqani, the Taliban’s interior minister, said at a gathering in Paktia that the Taliban did not fight to gain power, but rather aimed to “consolidate Sharia” and “fight corruption.” However, the facts show otherwise.
Since returning to power, the Taliban have focused on social restrictions rather than addressing the people’s problems, and have put society in a bind by suppressing women, silencing dissent, and massively reducing the number of government employees.
Haqqani has also considered loyalty to the Taliban leader as a condition for loyalty to the system, while he himself had implicitly criticized the group’s leader’s performance in the past.
Despite promises of development, Taliban development projects have also been halted or delayed due to internal disputes and lack of funding. On the other hand, in a new report, the UN Secretary-General accused the Taliban of arbitrary arrests and killings of former government officials and described the humanitarian situation in the country as dire.
