Over a thousand Taliban supporters, exclusively men and boys, gathered in a vast field on Sunday outside of Kabul to attend a rally in a show of strength, as the Islamist group consolidates its rule in Afghanistan.
Taliban officials addressed the crowd sat in rows of chairs, flanked by white and black Taliban standards and fighters in combat gear carrying assault rifles, in the first rally of its kind since in the capital since the group seized control of Afghanistan.
More and more supporters flocked as the event went on, leaving several hundred sitting to watch from chairs.
Mawlawi Muslim Haqqani, the deputy minister of Hajj and Religious Affairs, hailed the Islamist hardliners’ takeover, saying Christians and Westerners had been defeated.
A string of men also railed against the United States, and one told the crowd to “respect elders” because they were the “mujahids who fought against the Soviets” in the 1980s, AFP reports.
The event comes as the group pushed back on small women’s rights demonstrations in Kabul over the past week, firing shots into the air to disperse protestors.
Following the group’s sweeping military offensive into Afghanistan, isolated anti-Taliban rallies, with women leading the fight, were staged all over the country.
However, protests have dwindled since the government issued a ban on unauthorized demonstrations, warning of “severe legal action” for violators.
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