Taliban orders all former officials to hand over all weapons and public property within a week

The Taliban on Saturday gave all former government officials deposed from Afghanistan to hand over all the goods and weapons of the public service, in a new movement towards the consolidation of the new Administration of the Islamists and on the eve of the end of the withdrawal of international troops.

“All those who have means, weapons, ammunition and other government property are informed to hand over the aforementioned objects to the relevant bodies of the Islamic Emirate (as the Taliban call themselves) within a week”, said on Twitter the main spokesman for the Taliban, Zabihullah Mujahid.

The spokesman urged everyone to surrender within this period so that “there is no need to prosecute or give legal treatment to offenders if they are discovered,” he added.

Although the Taliban conquered power on August 15, the leaders of the movement had ordered their combatants not to enter the homes of public officials, or take any of the state property until the leadership decided on the matter.

Mujahid’s call for voluntary surrender today comes just as fundamentalist leaders are expected to announce the new conformation of the new government, which the Taliban hope to have ready before the withdrawal of international troops on August 31.

Thus the Islamist movement takes one more step to take full control of the country, while the US and international allies meet the last hours in the country before the deadline for the total withdrawal of their troops expires and with it the end of international evacuations.

The United States took control of the military area of ​​the airfield a day after the Taliban’s victory and their rise to power, in an apparent non-aggression pact that has allowed evacuations but is nearing completion.

Taliban sources assured Efe that their forces have begun to take control of the military zone of the airport, which has already been ceded by the Americans.

The Taliban special forces “Victorious Force” are taking control of the military part of the Kabul airport, Bilal Karimi, a Taliban spokesman, told EFE.

“Some parts (of the military airport) were evacuated (by foreign troops) and our forces took control of them,” he said.

The security situation in the Afghan capital is now the biggest concern after the attack by the jihadist group Islamic State (IS) at the Kabul airport, committed by a suicide bomber when a crowd tried to board one of the evacuation flights to flee. of the Taliban regime.

The attack, which turned the streets of Kabul into a carnage, left at least 170 dead and dozens of people injured.