Taliban
Afghanistan followed the same fate as dozens of formerly
Soviet-occupied
countries after the collapse of Moscow's Marxist government
in 1991. Islamic
factions, which had united to expel the Russian occupiers in
1992, began to
fight among themselves when it became apparent that
post-communist coalition
governments could not overcome the deep-rooted
ethnic and religious differences
of the members. It was in this atmosphere of
economic strife and civil war that
a fundamentalist band of religious
students emerged victorious. By 1996, this
group, the Taliban, ruled 90% of
the country with a controversial holy iron
hand. The other 10% of the country
is tenaciously held by minority opposition
groups led by president Rabbani
and military commander Ahmed Shah Massoud and
aided by foreign Taliban
adversaries. This Northern Alliance shares critics'
objections to the
Taliban's extreme fundamentalist methods and especially scorns
Pashtun
ethnic chauvinism. Today only Pakistan, the United Arab Emirates
and
Saudi Arabia recognize the Taliban as Afghanistan's legitimate ruling
party. The
United Nations still considers Massoud head of State, the US
advocates a broad
based government and others favor Rabbani, Zahir Shah,
Gulbuddin Hekmatyar or
other opponents as rulers of Afghanistan. The Taliban
claim to follow a pure,
fundamentalist Islamic ideology, yet the oppression
they perpetrate against
women has no basis in Islam. Within Islam, women are
allowed to earn and control
their own money, and to participate in public
life. The 55-member Organization
of Islamic Conference has refused to
recognize the Taliban as Afghanistan's
official government. The Muslim
Brotherhood in Egypt, regarded by many as an
ultraconservative,
fundamentalist organization, has denounced the Taliban's
decrees. Female
employment and education is restricted or banned. Women must
stay at home. If
necessary, women who do leave the house must be accompanied by
a male
relative and cover themselves with a burqa (an ankle-length veil with
a
mesh-like opening in front of the eyes). Non-religious music, cassette
tapes, TV
and movies are all banned. Multi-colored signs are prohibited.
White socks are
forbidden (either because they are considered a sexual lure
or because they
resemble Afghanistan's flag). Children cannot fly kites, play
chess or play with
the pigeons since it distracts them from their religious
studies. Men must wear
beards or face prison until their shaven whiskers grow
back. Paper bags are
banned since the paper might have been recycled from old
Korans and lower level
windows must be blackened to prevent males from
inadvertently catching women in
compromising states. In order to guarantee
that men and women observe the new
rules, the Taliban have employed a moral
police force (Agents for the
Preservation of Virtue and Elimination of
Vice) to search for violators. The
purported brutal treatment of offenders by
the moral police has led Amnesty
International to classify the conduct a
"reign of terror." Prior to
the Civil War and Taliban control, especially in
Kabul, the capital, women in
Afghanistan were educated and employed: 50%
of the students and 60% of the
teachers at Kabul University were women, and
70% of school teachers, 50% of
civilian government workers, and 40% of
doctors in Kabul were women. Some
examples of gender apartheid follow: A
woman who dared to defy Taliban orders by
running a home school for girls was
shot and killed in front of her husband,
daughter, and students. A woman
caught trying to flee Afghanistan with a man not
related to her was stoned to
death for adultery. An elderly woman was brutally
beaten with a metal cable
until her leg was broken because her ankle was
accidentally showing from
underneath her burqa. Women have died of treatable
ailments because male
doctors were not allowed to treat them. Many women, now
forcibly housebound,
have attempted suicide by swallowing household cleaner,
rather than
continuing to live under these conditions. 97% of Afghan women
surveyed by
Physicians for Human Rights exhibit signs of major depression.
The
Taliban creates fallacies t maintain control. The following is an
excerpt from
____ newspaper in 199_. The Taliban emerged in early 1994 from
the Sunni
religious schools (called madrassat) near Quetta, Pakistan, at a
time when
factional fighting and resulting lawlessness were at their height.
Originally a
small band of warriors from the majority Pashtoon tribe, their
numbers swelled
as they met with increasing success. Their take-over of the
southern Afghan city
of Kandahar, in April 1994, was welcomed by its
citizens, who had long suffered
under corrupt and brutal mujehadeen
commanders. The Taliban (the name derives
from the Arabic word for student)
quickly established order in Kandahar,
disarming all factions and the general
population. The Taliban leader of the
faithful, amir ul-momineen, Mohammed
Omar, is a former mujahedin and is a mullah
from Kandahar. A Pashtoon city,
Kandahar has accepted the Taliban's version of
sharia (Islamic law), which is
more or less consistent with local traditions.
Today it is peaceful. The
Taliban subsequently swept through south-western
Afghanistan, and arrived
in Herat, close to the Iranian border, in September
1995. On 27 September
1996 the Taliban took control of Kabul. Little resistance
was offered by
retreating government forces. The Taliban version of Islam is
an
interpretation of the Koran(i-sharif) and derived from Pashtunwali, the
Pashtun
tribal code. Initially welcomed Taliban has stopped the abuse of
power,
increasing dogmatism and 'gender apartheid' , which was unchecked by
the former
so khown 'Mujahid Warriors'.Taliban-controlled areas appear to be
relatively
calm. Most Afghans give high marks to the Taliban for their
ability to bring
security to the sizeable territory under their control.
Checkpoints in Kabul,
Logar, and Paktia Provinces are lightly manned and
non-threatening; guns are not
in evidence among the general populace in
cities and villages. International oil
interests are in fierce competition to
build pipelines through Afghanistan to
link Caspian Sea oil and gas reserves
to Central and South Asia.
California-based UNOCAL, a U.S. energy
company, led the CentGas consortium that
planned to build an oil and gas
pipeline through Afghanistan. The Taliban stood
to gain $100 million a year
from this pipeline. UNOCAL announced it was
suspending the project at the end
of 1998, citing in part, pressure from
feminist organizations protesting the
company's involvement with the Taliban.
Other U.S. and international
corporate interests are vying for business in the
country. Recently,
Telephone Systems International (TSI), a New Jersey-based
telecommunications
firm, reached an agreement with the Taliban to install a
satellite-based
system throughout Afghanistan. Corporate investment under
current conditions
could mean billions of dollars to shore up the Taliban regime
without regard
for women's rights. I have compiled a few things individuals can
do to help
this situation. introduce RAWA and RAWA activities to individuals,
groups,
schools, organisations, and other congregations in your community
stage
protests, marches, demonstrations in support of RAWA and in solidarity
with
Afghan women organise gatherings, meetings, seminars, etc. to
highlight the
situation of Afghan women under the fundamentalists write to
Pakistan
authorities voicing your protest and support for RAWA in events of
government or
non-government violence against our organisation (assassination
of our founding
leader in Pakistan; and maltreatment of RAWA collaborator by
Pakistani
government secret service agents in Islamabad, April 28, 1997; by
Taliban
hooligans on RAWA demonstration, April 28, 1998; of RAWA and its
etc.) invite
RAWA members to speak on its activities, situation of Afghan
women, etc. give
coverage to reports on Afghanistan and Jihadi and Taliban
crimes in your
publications, or somehow make people in your community aware
of them (for those
who know Persian, Pashtu or Urdu:) translate RAWA writings
and articles for us
into major languages, particularly English sell our , (in
Farsi, Pushto, Urdu
and English) and audio of patriotic and revolutionary
songs in your community
against advance payment of price and postage costs to
us help our with funds,
any and all school supplies, etc. help our hospitals
with funds, medicines and
medical supplies donate computers and copiers for
our publications and our
training courses for refugee women and children
donate films with revolutionary
and anti-fundamentalist themes (preferably
with sub-titles in Persian or, if not
available, in English) and also books,
reference books, encyclopaedias,
dictionaries, periodicals, etc. for our
resource centre for anti-fundamentalist
education donate funds to cover
postage/freight costs of medicines, books and
school supplies which friends
in Europe and America have collected and donated
to us but which we
unfortunately cannot receive because postage/freight charges
are not included
donate camcorders, cassette duplicators, sound mixing
equipment, CD
recorders, special equipment for RAWA's documentation centre of
Jihadi
and Taliban crimes make other donors aware of the womens’ needs.