The Taliban said Tuesday that women’s rights will be protected in Afghanistan within the limits of Islamic law.

“The women are going to be very active in the society, but within the framework of Islam,” Zabihullah Mujahid, the group’s spokesperson said.

The Taliban held its first official news conference in Kabul, on Tuesday, since taking power on Sunday.

The group also said it wants peaceful relations with other countries.

“We don’t want any internal or external enemies,” Al Jazeera quotes Mr Mujahid as saying while encouraging Afghans who had fled to the airport with their families to return.

He also said private media would be permitted to “remain independent” if journalists “did not work against national values.”

The group had earlier declared an “amnesty” across Afghanistan and urged women to join its government Al Jazeera reports that the Taliban is trying to calm nerves across a tense capital city that only the day before saw chaos at its airport as thousands made desperate attempts to flee.

On Tuesday, evacuation flights from Afghanistan resumed as a Western security official told the Reuters news agency that the Kabul airport’s tarmac and runway – which troops from the United States control – were now clear of crowds.

The official said military flights evacuating diplomats and civilians from Afghanistan have started taking off.

Not less than seven people died in Monday’s chaos, including people who clung to the sides of a jet as it took off.

The Taliban has declared the war in Afghanistan over and a senior leader said the group would wait until foreign forces had left before creating a new governance structure, Al Jazeera reports.

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