Taliban supreme leader prays for Afghanistan’s quake victims

By RAHIM FAIEZ
Associated Press

ISLAMABAD (AP) — The Taliban’s supreme leader has offered prayers for Afghanistan’s earthquake victims during a speech to Islamic clerics in Kabul. The tremor in June killed more than 1,000 people. State radio aired Haibatullah Akhundzada’s speech live Friday from the gathering in Kabul, where thousands of Islamic clerics and tribal elders are together for the first time since seizing power in Afghanistan in August. Women were not allowed to attend. Akhundzada’s appearance added symbolic heft to the meeting and the decisions the group is considering about Afghanistan’s future. The Taliban are under international pressure to be more inclusive as they struggle with Afghanistan’s humanitarian crises.