TOKYO: Afghan natives and aid groups in Japan were shocked at the Taliban’s quick capture of Kabul on Sunday that left Afghanistan’s democratic government in collapse while expressing concern over how the Islamist group will rule the country.

Reshad Khaled, a 71-year-old Afghan-born doctor who leads Karez, a nongovernmental organization providing medical and other aid to people in Afghanistan, said he did not expect the capital would be “captured this smooth.”

“I had been worried that a Taliban invasion of the capital could take a considerable toll. I’m relieved as there was no major clash,” said Reshad, who runs a clinic in Shizuoka Prefecture, central Japan.

The doctor, however, expressed suspicion over the Taliban’s easy win. “There might have been some kind of deal,” he said, citing the lack of resistance from the government.

The Taliban declared the war is over, but Reshad said he does not feel reassured “because what a new government would be like is not clear at all.”

“I’ll closely watch whether (the Taliban) will be able to build a nation which would observe international rules and allow children to have a dream for the future,” he said.

Kensuke Onishi, the 54-year-old head of Peace Winds Japan, an NGO supporting people in Afghanistan, said he is concerned that aid to households in need and women might be disrupted.

“Things could turn very bad in a short period. We want to continue providing aid as far as circumstances allow,” Onishi said.

Peace (Japan) Medical Services, an NGO offering medical aid in Afghanistan, has suspended aid work since Sunday, according to an official of Peshawar-kai, an NGO based in the southwestern Japan city of Fukuoka. PMS receives assistance from Peshawar-kai.

No fighting has been taking place in the eastern city of Jalalabad and other locations where PMS is engaged in aid work, the official said. “We will watch the situation,” the official said.

The fall of the Afghan government accused of rampant corruption was “a predestined consequence,” said Takuji Yasunaka, the 66-year-old owner of an Afghan restaurant in Tokyo with a long history of interactions with Afghanistan.

Not a few of his acquaintances in Afghanistan support the Taliban, Yasunaka said. “I hope (Afghanistan) will stand on its own feet,” he said.

JIJI Press