Fall of Afghanistan: Taliban say female workers should stay home as fighters 'not trained to deal with them'

Afghan women working for the government should stay at home until the Taliban have reimposed security, because the movement's fighters are not trained to deal with them, a spokesman for the group said on Tuesday.

The movement used its second press conference since its takeover of Afghanistan to say that it was trying to come up with a procedure to allow women back to the workplace.

Zabiullah Mujahid continued to push assurances that the Taliban had changed, despite widespread scepticism and fears their conquest will usher in a return to the repressions of their 1990s regime.

"We want them to work but we want the security to be right," he told reporters at the government media centre in Kabul.

"This is a temporary situation in relation to women," he said. He blamed the movement's fighters currently providing security in their new regime and said they were not trained in "how to deal with women".

Hundreds of people run alongside a U.S. Air Force C-17 transport plane, some climbing on the plane, as it moves down a runway of the international airport, in Kabul, Afghanistan. Photo / AP

Women workers in the government would continue to be paid their salaries while at home, he said.

Mujahid last week said the movement was "committed to letting women work in accordance with the principles of Islam".

The Taliban's first incarnation governed Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001. As the insurgency gathered strength over the past two decades they set up an aggressive shadow administration in territory under their control, competing with the formal government and often taking over government services.

Taliban fighters patrol inside the city of Kandahar. Photo / AP

The Taliban often also attempted to justify their 1990s restrictions, which included a ban on girls' education and women working outside the home, by saying it was for their own security.

Nine days after the militants walked into Kabul almost unopposed after the collapse of Ashraf Ghani's government, the country is facing a slew of crises.

Prices have soared in recent days and banks have shut down, leaving much of the population without money. The health system is dangerously short of supplies and close to collapse, doctors warn. Aid agencies have said the country is in the grip of a humanitarian disaster.

Yet Mujahid used his press conference to try to project a sense of returning normality. He said banks would reopen on Wednesday and the Taliban regime would welcome foreign aid as long as it did not compromise the country's independence.

An RNZAF C130 landed in Kabul this week and safely evacuated a number of New Zealanders and Australians. Photo / Supplied

He called on embassies not to shut down their operations and said their security would be guaranteed. Schools, universities, hospitals and local government agencies, and the media were all resuming operations. But he again appealed for government workers to return to their positions with many apparently still too afraid to return.

The Taliban also said they were removing the concrete blast walls which have clogged central Kabul and which have choked off traffic in the city of more than four million. Blast barriers have blocked several main arteries meaning traffic is at a standstill much of the day.

He said talks were under way with a fledgling resistance to the Taliban's takeover, which has taken refuge in Panjshir valley, around two hours drive north of the capital.

Amrullah Saleh, Ghani's vice-president, has claimed he is the legitimate president and has taken to the valley along with Ahmad Massoud, the son of the late anti-Taliban leader Ahmad Shah Massoud.

Mujahid said: "There was a little problem in Panjshir province. We are trying to sort that out. We are talking."

An RNZAF C130 landed in Kabul this week and safely evacuated a number of New Zealanders and Australians. Photo / Supplied

Meanwhile, Afghan activists slammed the United Nations Human Rights Council for tabling a "travesty" of a resolution on Afghanistan that was drafted by Pakistan, the main international backers of the Taliban.

At an emergency session held to address concerns about serious human rights violations in Afghanistan following the Taliban takeover, the council tabled the Pakistan-drafted resolution, which did not identify the Taliban by name and made no mention of alleged abuses.

The draft made no provision for an international fact-finding mechanism with powers to monitor human rights in Afghanistan and investigate human rights abuses.

Instead, it urged all parties to respect human rights law including "the full and meaningful participation of women" and of minorities. It also called on Michelle Bachelet, the high commissioner for human rights, to report back to the forum at its March 2022 session.

"The draft resolution tabled today is a travesty," said Shaharzad Akbar, the chairman of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission, arguing that the resolution should have introduced monitoring mechanisms.

Citing reports of Taliban reprisals, summary executions, disappearances, restrictions on women and media, Akbar said: "The least this special session can do is to illustrate through actions to Afghans that they will not look away, that the world is committed to at least a credible, strong and well-resourced mechanism to document the abuses and act as a deterrent."

The failure to pursue an international monitoring mechanism in Afghanistan came as Bachelet said she had received credible reports of serious violations committed by the Taliban, including summary executions of civilians and restrictions on women and on protests against their rule.

Bachelet also called on the council to adopt a "dedicated mechanism to closely monitor the evolving human rights situation in Afghanistan, including – in particular – the Taliban's implementation of its promises, with a focus on prevention."

Calling on the Taliban to respect human rights, she said: "A fundamental red line will be the Taliban's treatment of women and girls."