Italy: Afghan diaspora hold anti-Taliban protests

Rome [Italy], August 21 : An anti-Taliban demonstration took place at Republica Square in the heart of Rome.
The event saw a gathering of around 100 people including Afghan expats from Pashton, Uzbek and Tajik communities.
Several Italians and media persons joined the event in a show of expression of solidarity with the Afghan citizens.
Holding anti-Taliban and anti-Pakistan banners, several Afghans came with their families. The four-hour event witnessed sloganeering and speeches by the community members requesting the world not to abandon the Afghans.
Speaking at the event, Nadir, who is Afghan studies professor in different Universities in Italy, highlighted the illegitimacy of the proclaimed Emirate by the Taliban.

He stated that the Taliban usurped the power by treachery and deceiving everyone by pretending until the last minute that they are willing to negotiate for the creation of a provisional government to lead the country to new elections.

"Therefore, there should not be a doubt that the present Taliban is different from their previous regime. Absolutely they are not. They have no regard for the constitution and its provisions, which among other things, establishes that the form of state as a Republic cannot be amended and that the fundamental rights of people can be made more effective but never diminished (Article 149)."

He said that the onus lies on the world to monitor and demand an explanation from the Taliban. "Of those criminals who were released from prisons by the Taliban while keeping the innocent under terror, how many are Pakistanis, Arabs, and more? And of the Afghans in their ranks, how many young people are forcibly recruited, who do not share their ideology and practices at all?"
"Will the democratic countries, always ready to criticise the violations of human rights in any other country, have the awareness of recognizing this illegal and unconstitutional regime set up in Afghanistan against the principles of international law and against the Constitution as an expression of the will of its people?" the professor asked.
"After leaving Afghanistan before the established date while the country was in danger by recalling thousands of soldiers just to protect their escape, with what face Westerners will be able to return and look into the eyes of millions of women, children, elderly people, men they abandoned?"
He also quoted Ahmad Shah Massoudwords that "What you do not understand that by fighting against Taliban, I am fighting for your own freedom".
He impressed upon that it is the moral and legal obligation for the world powers to guarantee not only their own safety but to all including Afghans. "The world should not recognise and normalise its relations with the Taliban," asserted.
"No free-thinking Afghan want to live under the regime of the Taliban. Taliban is not the choice of the public; it is enforced on them and the world is complicit in their helpless situation," the professor added.