Fazl Ahmad Manawi, the former Minister of Justice of Afghanistan’s republican government, reacted to the Eid message of the Taliban leader by saying that Afghanistan’s ongoing crisis cannot be resolved merely through the announcement of a “general amnesty.” He stated that the Taliban must also be held accountable for the destruction of the country, mass killings, and the suppression of people’s freedoms.
He made these remarks after Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada, the Taliban leader, once again called on the group’s opponents in his Eid message to return to Afghanistan and take advantage of the “general amnesty.”
Although the Taliban have repeatedly invited political opponents and former officials to return over the past few years, no well-known political figure has accepted their offer so far.
In a post on his X account, Fazl Ahmad Manawi wrote that the main question is: “Who today has the authority to forgive whom?” He asked: “Which side was right, and who imposed ظلم on the people of this land? Who shed the blood of thousands of innocent people and pushed the country toward poverty, crisis, and destruction?”
He further added that, in the name of Sharia, an atmosphere of fear, coercion, and monopoly has been imposed on Afghanistan, and people are now asking who, in reality, should forgive whom.
The former justice minister also referred to the large-scale migration of people after the Taliban’s return to power, saying that migration is caused by oppression, injustice, and economic hardship—not by disbelief. According to him, thousands of Afghans have been forced to leave their homes, and if the situation continues, even more people will choose the path of migration.
Manawi said the Taliban should ask themselves why so many Afghans, despite all the hardships, prefer living in Iran and Pakistan over living in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.
He also called on the Taliban leader to allow an independent and impartial institution to conduct a transparent public survey regarding people’s views, if he truly believes in fair judgment, so that the real level of public satisfaction or opposition toward the current system can be determined.
He emphasized that Afghanistan’s problems cannot be solved merely through the declaration of a “forgiveness” and demands for allegiance from the people, because the people of the country carry deep wounds, bitter memories, and major demands that cannot be resolved through slogans and statements alone.
Writer:Saeed Sameer
