Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers have been fast to congratulate fellow Islamists from Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) on toppling Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s authorities.
As the HTS fighters seized the capital, Damascus, on December 8, the Taliban mentioned it hoped that the group would “lay the foundations of a sovereign and service-oriented Islamic authorities.”
But over two weeks on, the HTS, a U.S. and EU-designated terrorist group, seems eager on distinguishing itself from the way in which the Taliban has ruled Afghanistan.
Its chief, Ahmad al-Sharaa, beforehand recognized by the nom de guerre Abu Muhammad al-Jolani, has publicly pledged to undertake reasonable insurance policies in comparison with the Taliban’s extremist method to girls’s rights, nationwide reconciliation, and relations with the worldwide group.
“There are many variations between Syria and the Taliban,” Sharaa instructed the BBC final week. “The approach we govern is completely different.”
Women
Sharaa mentioned that his authorities would enable girls to get an schooling. He mentioned that within the northwestern Syrian metropolis of Idlib, dominated by the HTS for the previous eight years, greater than 60 p.c of college college students have been girls. He additionally mentioned Christian girls wouldn’t be pressured to watch the veil.
The Taliban banned teenage ladies from grade 7 and above one month after seizing the capital, Kabul, in August 2021. It additionally prohibited girls from college {and professional} schooling in December 2022.
In 1996, the Taliban took over Afghanistan and established a authorities that strictly adhered to Islamic legislation. A U.S.-led coalition overthrew them in 2001, however they reorganized as an rebel pressure and finally reclaimed energy in 2021 after U.S. and NATO forces left.
Senior Taliban leaders have adopted a “fringe opinion” of Islamic Shari’a legislation to implement the ban, which is opposed internationally and by many inside Afghanistan.
The HTS, nevertheless, just isn’t in favor of full freedom for girls and is contemplating numerous restrictions and limitations. “Regarding girls assuming judicial authority, this can be a topic for researchers and research by consultants,” mentioned Obaida Arnaout, a spokesman for the HTS-led interim administration.
Arnaout has related views about girls’s work within the parliament and authorities.
His feedback provoked protests from girls’s rights activists who warned the Islamist group in opposition to imposing spiritual rule.
‘Unity And Reconciliation’
The HTS’s major political message is unity and reconciliation amongst Syria’s numerous ethnic, spiritual, and sectarian teams, a few of whom have been combating a bitter civil struggle since 2011.
The Islamist HTS has appointed a transition authorities of figures from amongst its leaders. And it has largely shifted its administration from its northwestern Idlib stronghold to function the nation’s interim authorities till March.
But chief Sharaa has pledged nationwide reconciliation and inclusive authorities establishments.
“Syria is a rustic for all, and we will coexist collectively,” he instructed journalists on December 22.
The HTS chief even invited a senior former Ba’athist chief and ex-vice president, Farouk al-Sharaa to take part in a future National Dialogue Conference within the capital. He has repeatedly pledged to work towards a structure acceptable to all.
This is not like the Taliban, which, since 2021, has monopolized energy. Its theocratic authorities, led by Taliban clerics, has shunned Afghans who aren’t Taliban and avoided writing a structure.
Despite appointing a caretaker authorities in September 2021, there isn’t any indication that the Taliban will ever enable the formation of an inclusive nationwide authorities acceptable to all Afghans.
Foreign Relations
The worldwide group is carefully watching Syria’s transition and the way the HTS responds to fellow Syrians’ aspirations.
Sharaa has reportedly impressed diplomats and senior worldwide officers who met with him in Damascus to debate future governance, counterterrorism, and overseas insurance policies.
The initiative appears to be paying off. On December 20, Washington lifted a $10 million bounty on Sharaa. And the Syrian chief is pushing for a fast finish to worldwide sanctions on his nation.
“Sanctions have to be lifted shortly to ensure that us to take our nation ahead,” he instructed journalists alongside the Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on December 22.
In Afghanistan, most Taliban leaders stay on UN and U.S. sanctions lists. Some leaders have confronted new journey bans and sanctions for imposing the schooling ban on girls and different human rights violations.
As HTS continues to entrench energy in Syria, Western officers and diplomats are cautious about taking the militant group at its phrase.
“The Taliban projected a extra reasonable face, or no less than tried to, in taking up Afghanistan, after which its true colours got here out,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken mentioned on the Council on Foreign Relations suppose tank in New York on December 18. “The result’s it stays terribly remoted world wide.”
Blinken suggested “the rising group in Syria” to concentrate on “transferring the nation ahead” to keep away from worldwide isolation.
