FaithWorld

(US Marines from Charlie 1/1 of the 15th MEU (Marine Expeditionary Unit) fill sand bags around their light mortar position on the front lines of the US Marine Corps base in southern Afghanistan December 1, 2001/Jim Hollander)

Wakil Ahmad Muttawakil, a former right hand man to the reclusive, one-eyed leader of the Taliban, believes there is only one way to end a decade of fighting in Afghanistan. Return the hardline Islamists to power. Foreign troops are starting to head home anyway, he argues, and the Taliban are tough enough to keep on fighting for years.

“The only way to finish the fight against the Taliban is to bring them to power and get foreigners out,” Muttawakil said in an interview at his Kabul home, perched on a mock tiger-skin sofa and dressed in a traditional white shalwar kameez baggy tunic and trousers. Besides, he adds, corruption, insecurity and immorality have flourished since U.S.-backed troops ousted the group from Kabul, and their return would end much of that.

Other Afghans are not as enthusiastic about the reappearance in government of a group they remember as cruel and oppressive rulers. But as foreign troops start to head home with the war far from over, it is a future many are planning for. “When the U.S. leave, in one week, the Taliban will return. I believe 100 percent they will take back power, whether the Afghan people want them or not,” said Khalid Ahmad, who sells women’s clothes adorned with glitter and embroidery. “If they return, they’ll reintroduce their Islamic laws, they’ll do the same as they did before. If that happens, I won’t leave, but I doubt I will be able to have a business like this.”

During their 1996-2001 rule the Taliban implemented heavily oppressive policies, including shutting women out from most work and study and restricting their movements. They publicly executed adulterers, brought back physical punishments including amputation, and the Pashtun-dominated movement discriminated against Afghans from other ethnic groups.

Their austere interpretation of Islam also alienated Afghans who were not affected by their harsher rules. They banned television, some sports and most music, arrested men without beards, and beat those who didn’t attend prayers.

Read the full story by Martin Petty and Hamid Shalizi here.

.

Follow FaithWorld on Twitter at RTRFaithWorld

Subscribe to all posts via RSS