Exiled Afghan warlords and politicians declared the creation of the High Council of National Resistance against the Taliban on Thursday, pushing the Taliban to implement a more inclusive governance or risk civil war. Since the Taliban took control last year after a swift withdrawal of US troops, there have only been isolated attempts to challenge their authority.
However, 40 political figures gathered in Ankara on Tuesday at the request of former Afghan vice-president and warlord Abdul Rashid Dostum, who sought sanctuary in Turkey when Kabul fell in August. Participants said their council should pave the path for Afghanistan’s ‘liberation,’ according to a statement released to AFP on Thursday. ‘ We encourage the Taliban to halt their devastation and commence talks to find solutions to Afghanistan’s present issues,’ they added. According to the council, the Taliban should ‘learn from history’s lessons’ that ‘no organization can build a stable government through acts of force and coercion.’
Former Balkh provincial governor Atta Mohammad Noor, Shia Hazara community leader Mohammad Mohaqiq, and Ahmad Wali Massoud of the National Resistance Front (NRF), the principal group presently conducting an armed insurgency against the government, are among the council’s founding members. Abdul Rab Rasul Sayyaf, a long-time Taliban foe and warlord, is also a signatory. The goal of the council is to ‘attempt to solve Afghanistan’s issues via negotiations,’ according to a Dostum spokeswoman.
‘The Taliban should understand that they cannot manage the government or rule alone,’ he warned, else ‘Afghanistan would face civil war once more’. The Taliban announced the formation of a commission to contact lawmakers in exile at the start of the week. Taliban officials have stated that they aim to host a meeting of civilians, tribal leaders, and religious leaders to discuss ‘national unity’.
However, despite promising an inclusive administration, the Taliban constituted an executive committee in September made up completely of Taliban members and virtually entirely of the ethnic Pashtun tribe. The new Kabul authorities are already facing attacks from the NRF, which is commanded by Ahmad Massoud, the son of late leader Ahmad Shah Massoud, and has increased attacks in his former Panjshir valley bastion. According to the council’s declaration, violent opposition against the Taliban is ‘legitimate’.
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