During an hour-long press conference, it immediately became clear that the Taliban aim at projecting a different image to the world. Taking questions from the international press corps, the Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid spoke of the following:
Taliban: We have pardoned everybody
“I would like to assure the international community including the United States that nobody will be harmed in Afghanistan,” said Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid.
“We have pardoned everybody for the benefit of stability or peace in Afghanistan,” Zabihullah Mujahid referred to the people who have worked for the Western coalition.
Taliban: Women will have rights “within Islamic law”
“We are going to allow women to work and study within out frameworks,” Spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said.
“They can have activities in different sectors and different areas on the basis of our rules and regulations, educational, health and other areas,” Mujahid affirmed.
“They are going to be working with us, shoulder to shoulder with us.”
Mujahid was asked about the position of women journalists and would they be able to work like they did so far. “We are hoping that the next government will be answering this question, we want all our youth to be active,” he said, but was not able to provide any specific “rules” as of yet.
Taliban: Media should not work against national values
“I would like to assure the media that we are committed to the media within our cultural frameworks”, Mujahid said.
He emphasized that the media “should not work against national values, against national unity.”
The Taliban said that the media can “remain independent” as long as journalists do not work against the values of The Islamic Emirate.
“Nothing should be against Islamic values when it comes to the activities of the media, therefore Islamic values should be taken into account when it comes to the activities of the media.”