The Taliban - Horrors To Women, Children And Men
Bookmark this page and share it with others! (Or press Ctrl/D on Firefox)[This article first appeared in Creative-Realm Magazine 8/99, the information contained within this article mostly applied before the war which resulted after the events of September 11, 2001. Although the Taliban is no longer in power, they have created a legacy of abuse upon their citizens that the world must now deal with. This article is dedicated to the memory of the people who lost their lives and to those who were and are still victims of the Taliban and terrorism.]
There is a big problem in the United States. We tend to take everything read, heard or seen in the media as the God's honest truth. The problem with that is at best we don't hear a lot about important things going on in the world. At worst we only get a glimpse of an event and the slanted version of it. One of those events is the Taliban of Afghanistan.
Ignorance is the plague of the Western world, but is the source of death in Afghanistan. It is shameful you could ask a handful of about 100 people what is the Taliban or where is Afghanistan and be lucky to find 20 who know anything about it and 5 who would get it correct. Before you can condemn or praise a country, culture or region, you need to know a bit about who they are and what they believe.
Afghanistan is located in Southern Asia, northwest of Pakistan and east of Iran. The area of the land is slightly smaller than Texas. It is mostly rugged mountains with plains in the north and southwest. The climate is arid to semiarid with cold winters and hot summers. Natural resources include natural gas, petroleum, coal, copper, chromite, talc, barites, sulfur, lead, zinc, iron ore, salt, as well as precious and semiprecious stones.
Earthquakes, flooding and droughts are the biggest natural threats to this region. Environmental problems of this area include soil degradation; overgrazing; deforestation and desertification.
The population is 25,838,797 with many of the growing population made up of refugees from Iran who were former Afghans that fled during the war with the USSR. Life is short with the average expectancy at 45.88 years. Tuberculosis, AIDS, and cholera are problematic diseases throughout the land. Starvation, malnutrition and acts of war and punishment are also major causes of death.
The literacy rate is about 13% of the population. The majority speak Afghan Persian also known as Dari, but many are bilingual. The Afghans are a Muslim people and Afghanistan is a Muslim Emirate official known under the Taliban as Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan where all of the residents (of which 99.9% are Muslims) must live by the laws of the religion of Islam.
The capital of Afghanistan is Kabul. There is no central government, but laws are administered and enforced by factions. The Afghan people won independence from the United Kingdom on August 19, 1919.
Afghanistan was invaded and occupied by the Soviet Union in 1979. The USSR was forced to withdraw 10 years later by anti-communist mujahidin forces supplied and trained by the US, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and others. Fighting subsequently continued among the various mujahidin factions, but the fundamentalist Islamic Taliban movement has been able to seize most of the country. In addition to the continuing civil strife, the country suffers from enormous poverty, a crumbling infrastructure, and widespread live mines.
Due to the events of 1979, Afghanistan has been in a political limbo to this day. The former rules to vote were only for men ages 15-50, but now it is agreed by all factions to live under the laws dictated under the Shari'a (Islamic law). In spite of the agreement to live under this law, the different factions are in a struggle over ultimately which will dominate the country. Thus there is much civil unrest.
One must be able to comprehend the difference of a government where freedom and democracy fosters an economy and growth and a government where restrictions and fundamentalism inhibit progress. The rules of the Taliban, or the religious students, favor a fundamentalist Muslim faith over freedoms enjoyed in the West. By enforcing the laws of Islam over the human rights sanctioned by the United Nations, Afghanistan has become a political sore spot. Should the world community ever take actions against a religious faith? If so, when?
Afghanistan is an extremely poor country dependent of agriculture and livestock. With the drought and civil unrest, many are dying of starvation and malnutrition. Two of the crops which are reliable and deadly to the people are marijuana and opium (poppy - heroine).
Major political factions are profiting from the drug trade by the sweat of the labor of the poor men and children who work these landmine ridden fields. These landmines planted in various hidden locations make life hazardous. Many people, children included, are dying or permanently disfigured and dismembered by stepping into landmines buried in the soil.
With the elements of starvation, civil unrest, and an unstable government the problem goes from bad to worse when you include the Taliban.
The concept of the Taliban, in and of itself, is not evil. The heart of the evil lies in the extreme fundamentalism in this practice. Any form of extreme behavior will lead to abuse of power. The United States could just as easily fall prey to this form of injustice if the religious right were to take over the government with the same religious zealously, but that is why we have separation of church and state.
The Taliban was imposed upon the people who were mostly all devout Muslim. It seemed a good idea at the time that if they were to go back to their roots, cleanse themselves of what the religion perceived as "evil" and get right with Allah, then their God would bless them and things would be made right.
The country, although agreed upon getting right with God, could not agree which faction would take control of the lead. So it basically broke down to a who is holier than thou fight off for power.
In traditional Islamic religion, it is the men who hold the power. Women and children are to be viewed as subjects of the men who take care of them. All are to follow the laws within the Koran. Worship Allah and have no other gods before them. Basic Islam is on the same level as Christianity and Judaism as far as rules. They have all originated from the same roots of the Hebrew faith.
What makes this Taliban different from the innocuous and traditional religion of Islam is the abuse and hiding behind religion to enforce acts of cruelty in order to obtain control over the region and its people. Although the reports mostly heard are about the abuse to women under the Taliban, little is said against the abuse suffered by the children and men living under this law.
The Western world thrives on its freedoms. We have the right to read, write and speak as we feel. We can travel without question. We have the right to choose our faith or lack thereof. The Afghans do not have this luxury.
To add to the miserable existence of poverty and ignorance, they are given rules to follow that further imprison them to these inhumane conditions. Things we take for granted such as music are forbidden in Afghanistan. Men are not allowed to shave and must maintain a beard or will not be allowed to work and can be killed for this reason. Even something as simple as wearing shorts to play soccer can get one arrested.
Men who dress according to the codes of the Taliban are allowed to work the few available jobs and qualify for help from their government faction. The men are to be held fully responsible for the women and children of their household and can even merit a death sentence if one under their care is accused of a high crime of a moral nature. There is little to no chance of appealing a case before a judge and jury. So-called justice is brutal and swift and not even handed. An offense which may warrant the death penalty in one area could get you 100 lashes in another. For stealing, one can have their hand chopped off which can leave them permanently dismembered or lead to death from shock or infection.
Children, especially girls, are not given the rights to an education. The few boys and men allowed an education are done so strictly within Islamic based institutions and are among those with ties to higher ranks within the government. Playing, smiling and the basics one associates with childhood are almost unheard of in this country and frowned upon as frivolous. The children must work in order to help feed their family. Many work the opium fields filled with landmines.
Many know about the dress code of the women who are not even allowed to show their faces or any skin, but few know the extremes of the limitations. Women are not allowed to work any job. Only a handful of female doctors are allowed to work to treat only female patients. The women are at mercy to the men of their family for their existence. If the men who are responsible for them are killed, they are as good as dead. Even under such circumstances, these women are not allowed to earn a living. Legally, all they can do is wait in the streets and beg for food or money. Some have become prostitutes in order to earn more money, but to be caught means a certain death.
Among the educated women of Afghanistan who know that live could be better, the suicide rates are high. In frustration of a system that has revoked any form of freedom they used to know, they would rather die than live at the mercy of others who do not always have their best interests at heart.
There is no easy answer to this situation. UN sanctions will only further increase the suffering of the poor people. An outside army trying to impose human rights could potential endanger more lives than those whom are currently threatened.
Unless the people of Afghanistan were to come together and decide the fate they want, the world at large is helpless to effectively help them. The civil unrest is proof that this nation is unsure of its ultimate goal. Unless the people are educated and allowed to see beyond the blinders given, they cannot conceive of a better life for the vision of poverty is all they can see.
If this is disturbing to you, then do something. Spread the word. Visit the sites below and make a difference.
Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan
FUNDAMENTALISM REBORN BY WILLIAM MAYLEY
In 1966, the world watched with varying degrees of interest, surprise, and unease as armed, ultra-fundamentalist insurgents overthrew the Afghan government. Within days of their victory, the Taliban, a militant Islamic sect, was issuing draconian religious decrees, restricting women's employment and movement, rounding up Afghans at gunpoint to bray five times a day, and publicly executing political opponents and criminals.
Composed of essays commissioned from the foremost experts on the Taliban, this anthology traces the movement's origins, its ascendance, the reasons for its success, and its role in the reconstruction of Afghanistan. Crucial to the Taliban's staying power as a governing force will be its relations with neighboring countries and with the West. Interestingly, given their intense hatred of Iran, the Taliban was enthusiastically supported by the U.S. government up to the very moment of their triumphant arrival in Kabul.
Examining yet another country on the brink of disintegration, Fundamentalism Reborn? is a comprehensive and up-to-date account of the history, rise to power, and future of the most dramatic manifestation of Islamic fundamentalism since the Iranian revolution.
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