MSNBC interviewed the spokesperson for the Taliban Monday afternoon, who denied all allegations of wrongdoing despite numerous reports that say otherwise.
MSNBC’s Ayman Mohyeldin asked the spokesperson, Suhail Shaheen, about allegations that they are targeting civilians and carrying out mass executions of military personnel. Shaheen said the allegations were “totally baseless” and “totally wrong,” claiming that the reports were made up in an attempt to spread “propaganda.”
Mohyeldin asked Shaheen about accounts that the Taliban was going door to door looking for people who collaborated with the American government and taking young women and children as brides for Taliban fighters.
“I totally deny” the allegations, Shaheen said. “If someone is going door to door, and they are posing as Taliban, they are not Taliban. They may be from the former [regime] … and posing in order to create a bad name for us.” (RELATED: US Embassy Says There Are ‘Deeply Disturbing’ Reports Of Taliban Executing Afghan Troops, ‘Could Constitute War Crimes’)
More Islamic propaganda from the Taliban spokesman that goes unchecked on claims about Taliban fighters going door-to-door: “I totally deny. If…they are posing as Taliban, they are not Taliban. They may be from the former [regime]…in order to create a bad name for us.” pic.twitter.com/B5g7oJ6G97
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) August 16, 2021
Shaheen claimed that the Taliban has a “clear policy” against entering people’s homes. He insisted that Americans would be allowed to leave the country safely, anyone is “welcome” to leave Afghanistan and claimed that if American collaborators stayed, they would be able to “live a normal life.”
“We want them not to leave the country,” he said. “To live a normal life. Our country needs them.”
Former Afghan President Ashraf Ghani fled the country as the Taliban has been taking over the country since President Joe Biden ordered troops to withdraw by Sept. 11. Commercial flights were reportedly shut down after gunfire erupted at the Kabul airport, and harrowing videos showed people clinging to planes and falling to their deaths in a desperate attempt to escape.
Concerning reports also emerged about the rights of women and girls in Taliban-controlled areas. Some women have already been ordered to wear burqas, a veil-like item that completely covers women from head to toe, in Taliban-controlled areas, The Guardian reported.