India
oi-Madhuri Adnal
New Delhi, Aug 19: In a stunning rout, the Taliban all of Afghanistan in just over a week, as Afghans and foreigners alike raced for the exit, signalling the end of a 20-year Western experiment aimed at remaking Afghanistan. Just days earlier, an American military assessment estimated it would be a month before the capital would come under insurgent pressure.
The Taliban have promised a new era of peace and security, saying they will forgive those who fought against them and grant women full rights under Islamic law, without elaborating.
But many Afghans are deeply skeptical of the group, especially those who remember its previous rule, when it imposed a harsh interpretation of Islamic law.
Civilians fearing that the Taliban could reimpose the kind of brutal rule that all but eliminated women’s rights rushed to leave the country, lining up at cash machines to withdraw their…