MOSCOW, August 17. /TASS/. The Taliban (outlawed in Russia) are sparing no effort to prevent provocations in Kabul as they feel responsible for what is going on in the city, Russian Ambassador to Afghanistan Dmitry Zhirnov said on Tuesday.
According to the Russian diplomat, the Taliban are currently behaving "in a responsible and civilized manner" in the capital city and tend to be "a little over-cautious."
"They want to be sure there will be no provocations, to avoid shooting. Because practically everyone possesses weapons, even teenagers. It looks like they are afraid that should anything happen not through their fault it may cast a shadow on them as masters of the situation. They don’t conceal it," he said in an interview with the Rossiya-24 television channel.
He recalled that before the change of power in Kabul there had been fears that the Taliban "would plunge the city into chaos and bloodshed." "But it turned out just the opposite," he said, adding that locals had taken the Taliban coming to power "absolutely calmly." More to it, a larger part of the socially vulnerable look to the change of power with hope.
After the United States announced the end of its armed operation in Afghanistan and began to withdraw its troops, the Taliban launched a large-scale offensive on the government army and by August 15 entered Kabul after meeting no resistance. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said he was resigning to avoid bloodshed and soon after fled the country. Western nations are evacuating their citizens and embassy employees.