Bad Students' Time
In the fall of 2001, the Americans and their allies in the anti-terrorist coalition invaded Afghanistan and ended the Taliban government in that country (recognized as a terrorist organization, banned in Russia). Two decades have passed since then – the Americans and their NATO partners are leaving Afghanistan and the Taliban are taking region after region. Some experts count the weeks and months before the militants conquer Kabul. Others believe there will be no revenge on the Taliban in the near future. We decided to recall where this radical movement came from and why, who is leading it and who is benefiting.
The site of the Taliban explosion in Kabul. Year 2018. Photo: picture-alliance.com
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After the withdrawal of Soviet troops and the overthrow of Najibullah's government, he did not come to Afghanistan peace. War, on the other hand, broke out with new energy – now between groups of Mujahideen who either joined coalitions or broke up existing alliances. “It turned out that the 'extreme' is ordinary Afghans who suffered from military operations, the illegality of field commanders and the catastrophic state of the economy.
And against this background, a new force emerged in the Afghan conflict – the Islamic Taliban movement (recognized as a terrorist organization in Russia and banned), led by Mullah Mohammad Omar, a Pashtun who fought against Soviet troops and received religious education in the 1980s. Pakistan.
As you know, after the April Revolution in Afghanistan and the introduction of Soviet troops there, many of the country's population moved to Pakistan. There, along the Afghan border, numerous religious schools – madrasah – were established in refugee camps for money from the oil monarchies of the Persian Gulf (especially Saudi Arabia). These educational institutions provided their students with free accommodation and meals and were paid a scholarship. And for many young Afghan refugees, studying at such madrasas meant helping their families. Mujahideen groups operating in Afghan refugee camps naturally took control of these schools. Strong Pakistani Islamist parties have also been active in this regard.
In fact, “Taliban” means “students,” “seeking knowledge,” “disciples.” Not only did they gain knowledge, but together with their teachers they also fought against the Soviet army and the government in Kabul. At the same time, we have saved the potential …
When Afghanistan plunged into the chaos of the civil war, these “disciples” came on the scene. Many Afghans saw the new movement as a force they believed could end protracted civil strife.
The Taliban promised that once they came to power, they would restore peace and security and enforce their own strict version of Sharia law.
The Taliban consist mainly of Pashtuns, the largest ethnic group in Afghanistan. And it also played into the hands of a new movement in which many Pashtuns saw defenders face to face with warriors of Tajik and Uzbek descent.
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In September 1995, the Taliban conquered the province of Herat, bordering Iran, and a year later seized Kabul and overthrew the regime of President Rabbani, an ethnic Tajik, and one of the Afghan Mujahideen leaders who fought Soviet troops. In 1996, the Taliban declared Afghanistan an “Islamic emirate” and the leader of the movement, Mullah Mohammed Omar, a clergyman and veteran of the anti-Soviet resistance, led him as a “leader of the faithful.” By 1998, the Taliban already controlled almost 90% of Afghanistan.
Many Afghans, tired of the atrocities and bloody disputes of the Mujahideen, welcomed the appearance of the Taliban, which promised to end the civil war, eradicate corruption, curb illegality and ensure the safety of roads and territories under their control.
However, it soon became clear that the Taliban intended to rule with an iron fist.
When he invaded Kabul, he first began killing his enemies – they entered the UN mission and grabbed the man who had taken refuge there in 1992, former country president Najibullah and his brother. After torture and humiliation, they were subjected to cruel and degrading execution.
As Western experts have noted, “the Taliban's jurisprudence was based on the pre-Islamic Pashtun tribal code and interpretations of sharia, tinged with the harsh Wahhabist doctrines of Saudi madras sponsors.” Punishments have been introduced, such as the public execution of convicted murderers and adulterers and the amputation of limbs to persons found guilty of theft. Men were required to grow a beard and women were required to wear a burqa. A special ministry was created to promote virtue and prevent vice, overseeing the enforcement of bans on behavior that the Taliban considered un-Islamic.
Under the Taliban regime, Afghan women were only allowed to study in mosques for up to 10 years. In high school, not to mention universities and institutes, access to women and girls was closed. The Taliban have completely banned women from working at home, and only a small number of doctors and nurses are allowed to work in some cable hospitals. In general, any activity of a woman away from home has been banned – except when accompanied by a close male relative. Women who did not follow the dress code, as well as those who appeared on the streets without a male escort allowed, risked being flogged and verbally insulted. Premarital sex was punished by public stoning.
Spring celebrations of the traditional New Year (Navruz) were banned. Propaganda of any religion (with the exception of Islam, of course) was declared a serious crime, and the transition from Islam to another faith was punishable by death.
In 1998, the Taliban ordered residents of areas under control to discard all televisions, VCRs and satellite dishes within two weeks to instill a “truly Islamic” spirit in Afghan society as films and music lead to moral decay. All cinemas were closed even earlier. In August 2001, Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar issued a decree banning the use of the Internet in Afghanistan.
Despite international outrage, the Taliban destroyed the famous ancient Buddha statues at Bamiyan in central Afghanistan, contrary to Islamic canons.
As the French jihadist Gilles Kepel aptly put it, the Taliban was just as “a disaster.” for the Islamic movement “, which turned out to be Pol Pot or Enver Hoxha for the communist movement.
On the one hand, the Taliban is considered a purely Afghan phenomenon, an Islamist Pashtun nationalist group. However, in the future, the Taliban's “emirate” does not appear to be limited to Afghanistan. Taliban ideologues saw the model of the future political system in the form of an ideal theocratic caliphate. As early as 1996, the Taliban-led Afghan newspaper Tolu-yi in Kandahar eventually called the unification of all Muslim countries in the world into a “single, indivisible Islamic caliphate” as a “respected dream.”
It is no wonder that during the Taliban regime, Afghanistan became one of the world's regional and regional centers of appeal not only to diverse radicals, extremists and frank terrorists. It was in Afghan territory that Osama bin Laden took refuge for himself, as well as for many of his like-minded people. The direct cause of the US invasion in 2001 after the 9/11 attacks was, in fact, the Taliban's reluctance to hand over “number 1 terrorists” to the Americans.
In November 2001, under the blow of the Americans and their allies, the Taliban were expelled from Kabul and Jalalabad and expelled from Kandahar in early December. Their “emirate” fell, but the Taliban survived. In addition, he managed to regroup and transform into a powerful military movement, wage guerrilla warfare, and commit terrorist acts, including the use of suicide bombers.
The Afghan Taliban movement, which suddenly appeared on Pakistani territory, has become a major factor in Pakistan's domestic policy. Taliban ideology has spread in various parts of Pakistan, especially in areas bordering Afghanistan – so much so that in December 2007 a group of Pakistani Taliban emerged.
Waziristan has become a Taliban stronghold in Pakistan since the early 2000s, where the Taliban ousted traditional tribal leaders and effectively took power in the region in 2004. In February 2006, the proclamation of the “Islamic Emirate of Waziristan” was announced in North Waziristan. In the spring of 2009, a number of areas of Pakistan did pass Taliban control.
In late 2008 – early 2009, the Afghan and Pakistani Taliban overcame existing differences between them and formed the “Shuru (Council) of the United Mujahideen.” The goal of this alliance was to fight the Western presence in the region.
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The Taliban is now led by the group's leader, “Amir the Faithful” Mawlavi (the highest interpreter of the Sharia canons), Khaybatullah Akhundzad. His predecessors were Mullah Omar, who died in Pakistan in 2013, and was succeeded by Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansur, who was later killed in a US air raid in Pakistan in 2016.
“Amir” has a political representative, one of the founders of the Taliban movement, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, head of the movement's political office in Doha, Qatar. He is described in the Western media as a representative of a “moderate” camp.
One of the other two deputies of the group's leaders is the son of Taliban founder Mullah Omar Mullah Mohammad Yakub (responsible for military operations). He is called the leader of the “Shura in Quetta”, the supreme body of political control of the movement based in the administrative center of Balochistan Province (Pakistan).
The general public, Mohammad Yakub, was virtually unknown until he recognized the Taliban in 2015 – in two years! – the death of his father, Mullah Mohammad Omar.
Yakub graduated from several conservative Islamic seminaries in the Pakistani city of Karachi, where his family lived after the US invasion of Afghanistan. Experts say the status of Mullah Omar's eldest son has made Taliban warriors and militants visible. Mullah Omar was a charismatic leader and his family and even his closest associates, many of whom were promoted to positions of power, remain highly respected.
In his first statement, the then 20-year-old Yakub called for the group to gather. Since then, the star of the young ambitious mullah has risen sharply – he has consolidated power, although he has failed in his attempt to succeed his father. Nevertheless, the “crown prince” of the Taliban first became the deputy leader of the movement and then acquired the influential position of military commander.
Taliban expert Antonio Giustozzi of the Royal Institute of Joint Services in London describes Mullah James as part of a Taliban “moderate camp” working to end the war through negotiations. In particular, it was suggested that, under the leadership of Mullah James, the Taliban seemed to be adhering to its commitment not to attack Americans leaving Afghanistan. At the same time, however, the Taliban intensified attacks on Afghan government forces in an effort to seize more and more territory.
According to Antonio Giustozzi, Mullah Yakub has strong support for Saudi Arabia.
Another “deputy” Taliban leader is Sirajudin Haqqani, head of the Haqqani Network. In the 1980s, the group, founded by Jalaluddin Haqqani, fought Soviet forces and received funding from the CIA during Reagan's rule. Decades have passed – and in 2012 the United States declared the “Haqqani Network” a terrorist organization. Among these milestones lies the oath of allegiance to the Taliban's Haqqani Network. According to Western experts, the militant group operates mainly in southeastern Afghanistan and northwestern Pakistan and is closely associated with both the Taliban, al-Qaeda (a terrorist organization banned in Russia) and Pakistan's intelligence services.
Sirajuddin Haqqani, the son of Jalaluddin Haqqani, is reportedly responsible for the day-to-day operations of the group, along with several of his closest relatives. In August 2015, Sirajuddin was appointed Deputy Taliban Deputy Leader Mullah Akhtar Mohammed Mansour, strengthening the Haqqani-Taliban alliance. Haqqani Jr. he is described as even more radical than his father and maintains closer ties with al Qaeda and other foreign extremists in Pakistan.
Although the Haqqani faction is officially part of the Taliban's umbrella structure, the network has significant operational autonomy. Haqqani's network is based mainly in North Waziristan (Pakistan), conducts cross-border operations in eastern Afghanistan and Kabul and is considered the most dangerous group – its militants usually carry out coordinated small arms attacks combined with missile strikes, improvised explosive devices, suicide attacks and attacks. using vehicles with bombs.
At the top of the Taliban is High Judge Mullah Abdul Hakim, who oversees the legal structure of the Taliban and leads the negotiating team in Doha.
In the Taliban hierarchy, a collegial body responsible for decision-making and consultation, the Rahbari Shura, with more than twenty members, plays an important role. According to UN experts, this council decides on all political and military matters of the “emirate” of the Taliban.
In the structure of the Taliban there is a kind of “ministry” or commissions – military, intelligence, economic, etc. d. (more than a dozen in total).
These commissions focus on areas such as economics, education, health and advocacy. For example, the military commission appoints shadow governors and battlefield commanders in each of Afghanistan's thirty-four provinces. The Political Commission has an office in Qatar, which is responsible for negotiations and acts as a foreign policy agency.
Each Afghan province has a shadow governor and a Taliban commander – both appointed by the military commission.
The Taliban also have their own business. The main source of income for the Taliban is poppy growing and drug trafficking. According to a UN report, the movement received $ 400 million from the illicit drug trade in 2018. In the territories they control, the Taliban also collects taxes on business activities such as agriculture and mining. Despite severe UN sanctions, the group supplemented its income with illegal mining, extortion of local businesses and foreign aid.
According to other sources, the Taliban earns up to $ 1.5 billion a year from the opium trade, illegal mining, extortion and foreign donations. In addition, many Taliban leaders own businesses and real estate in Pakistan.
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As Russian Orientalist Andrey Serenko puts it, the Taliban has actually turned into a hybrid tool today. war that Pakistan's special services are waging against Afghanistan.
Pakistan has repeatedly denied creating the Taliban, but there is no doubt that many Afghans who originally joined the radical Islamist movement were educated in madrasas on Pakistani soil.
Pakistan was also one of three countries, along with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), that recognized the Taliban regime when they were in power in Afghanistan. It was also the last country to sever diplomatic relations with the group.
And it was on Pakistani territory that the Taliban took refuge and created a strong back infrastructure there. Taliban leaders and their families live in Pakistan.
Many experts claim that Pakistan's intelligence service continues to attack Taliban fighters in the country's western tribal areas in an effort to counter India's influence in Afghanistan. Islamabad denies the allegations. At the same time, the Pakistani authorities are fighting against the domestic group Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, commonly known as the Pakistani Taliban, which has some differences from the Afghan group of the same name.
There is also a “moderate” Taliban with which to negotiate with a radical Taliban, Andrei Serenko is convinced that the United States is not well aware of how much the Taliban is controlled by Pakistan's intelligence services: ” According to the political scientist, the conclusion of the agreement between the Taliban and the Americans not only did not bring Afghanistan closer to peace, but brought it even closer to the war: “The war in Afghanistan began to gain momentum rapidly, as much as a result of an agreement reached between the Americans and the Taliban in February last year. Eventually, she untied the hands of the Taliban, which was given a serious impetus in terms of world recognition and political legitimacy. “They flirted with jihadists as they supported the Mujahideen's fight against Soviet troops in Afghanistan. Then, including American support, a fundamentally new structure of jihad emerged in the region, including Al Qaeda (a terrorist organization banned in Russia) that hit America itself ten years later. No one thought that such a great catastrophe would come from the Hindu Kush mountains for New York. And now we have to remember this story. “