Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban group declared the nation an “Islamic Emirate” Thursday, prompting more protests in which several people were killed, footage showed. Zabihullah Mujahid, the group’s spokesman, announced the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan on social media with a photo of the country’s new logo.
The United Kingdom’s Parliament on Wednesday held President Joe Biden in contempt for his withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan, calling the move “catastrophic” and “shameful.”
Although Afghanistan is desperately poor, the Taliban now rule over a nation with nearly $1 trillion worth of mineral deposits that the world needs to manufacture clean technologies, CNN Business reports. Experts have said that Afghanistan has the natural resources to become one of the region’s richest countries within 10 years.
Afghanistan was moving closer to civil war Wednesday after its former First Vice President Amrullah Saleh declared himself the country’s new leader and, backed by a resistance movement, vowed not to surrender to the ruling Islamist Taliban group.
The leader of Lebanon’s Hezbollah terror group on Tuesday called the conduct of the United States during the Taliban’s conquest of Afghanistan “the moral downfall of America.”
Ousted Afghan President Ashraf Ghani surfaced in the United Arab Emirates Wednesday, while his nation was in turmoil with people being killed or injured during evacuations and in protests against Afghanistan’s new Islamist Taliban rulers.
The Pentagon on Wednesday acknowledged that it does not currently have the capability to safely escort Americans in Kabul to the airport for evacuation as the Taliban consolidate control in Afghanistan’s capital.
Islamist Taliban militants ruling Afghanistan have begun executing Christians who refuse to renounce their faith, a well-informed Christian broadcaster said Tuesday.
Emboldened by perceived U.S. weakness in the region, China rushed to send warships and fighter planes near U.S.-backed Taiwan which it regards as a renegade province.
Rights groups, including Release International, are warning that the persecution of Christians in Afghanistan will likely intensify now the Taliban have taken power and the US and NATO have withdrawn, Christian Today (CT) reports. The Afghan church had been driven underground by Islamic apostasy laws even before the Taliban takeover, but the situation is now reported to be “dire.”
Afghanistan’s Islamist militant Taliban group pledged Monday that it would “respect the rights of women” if they respect its strict interpretation of Islam. “They can work and have education within Islamic law,” said Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid during his group’s first press conference since taking control over Afghanistan.
The Taliban have taken over Afghanistan and local Christian pastors facing the threat of intensified bloody persecution are standing in faith while calling on the worldwide Body of Christ for prayer. “God has a purpose and a plan,” an Afghan pastor told International Christian Concern (ICC).
Hungary and Bulgaria broke ranks with the European Union on Monday as the only EU states not to sign a declaration calling for all Afghans wishing to leave to be allowed to do so.
In response to the Taliban re-conquest of Afghanistan, Hamas on Monday congratulated the Afghan people for “defeating” the US.
U.S. President Joe Biden said Monday that the takeover of Afghanistan by the Islamist Taliban group went more quickly than anticipated. Still, he defended his decision to withdraw U.S. forces from the war-torn country. “American troops should not die in a war that Afghans are not willing to fight for themselves,” he told the nation in televised remarks from the White House.
Heartbreaking reports emerged Monday of Islamist Taliban fighters going house-to-house to find people who supported the U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan.
U.S. President Joe Biden was to return to the White House on Monday to deliver long-delayed remarks on Afghanistan, the White House said.
People plunged to their death as many tried to hold on to a leaving American military jet in Kabul as they tried to escape the Islamist Taliban group, U.S. officials confirmed.
The Taliban, which has long called itself the “Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,” announced they had entered Kabul soon after Afghan President Ashraf Ghani fled the country on Sunday afternoon, setting off a rush to the city’s airport and a stepped-up evacuation of the U.S. embassy by a fleet of military helicopters guarded by AH-64 Apache attack helicopters orbiting the once-impenetrable Green Zone. President Joe Biden rushed to move in thousands of U.S. troops to evacuate American officials still in the capital.
Minority Christians and supporters of the U.S.-led military coalition such as translators were among Afghans facing executions after the Islamist militant Taliban group took control over Afghanistan.