Can the Taliban develop and show a different, more moderate, balanced and softer face than it did in Afghanistan until 2001? It depends on what one puts into these words and depends on one’s expectations of a movement dedicated to the extremely strict interpretation of the religious laws of Islam.
Despite the initial photos of their fighters riding in pushchairs and eating ice cream, as well as the interviews given to women journalists, one thing became very clear – there may be a change, but some unsightly manners will remain despite all the wishful thinking. .
This is especially evident in the latest interview of one of the founders of the Taliban movement – Mullah Nurudin Turabi – for the “Associated Press”.
Turabi’s comments, now in his early 60s, make it clear that the group’s leaders, even if they embrace innovation and technological change such as videos and mobile phones, remain deeply rooted in an extremely conservative and rigid worldview. .
In an interview, he dismissed outrage at the Taliban’s public executions in the past, often in front of crowds of football stadiums, and warned the world not to interfere in the affairs of Afghanistan’s new rulers.
“Everyone has criticized us for the stadium’s penalties, but we have never commented on their laws and penalties. No one can tell us what our laws should be. We will follow Islam and obey our laws to the Qur’an,” Turabi said.
Prior to the US invasion in 2001, he was Afghanistan’s justice minister, and it was his sentencing regulations that determined how the world perceived the Taliban.
Public executions at the stadium in the capital, Kabul, or in the huge square in front of the Eid Gach Mosque, in front of hundreds of men, and limb amputations for thieves have largely shaped the group’s “bloodthirsty savages”.
At the same time, trials and sentences were rarely public at the time, and the judiciary was largely transferred to Islamic clerics, whose legal knowledge was limited to religious precepts.
In the 90’s Turabi himself became legendary with his particularly sharp attitude to music. He snatches the cassettes from the car cassette players on the street, breaks them and waves their tape like garlands of electric poles and trees.
He required all men working in the state apparatus at the time to wear turbans, and his followers regularly beat those men who visibly trim their beards.
However, he said the Taliban were now very different from what they had been in the past.
In the interview, he explained that the authorities now allow things like television, mobile phones, taking photos and recording videos, because “they are a necessity for the people and we take this issue seriously.”
Moreover, he recognizes the role of the media as a means of propagating messages, through which the Taliban can reach “not hundreds but millions of people.”
One of the messages that Turabi will certainly not dedicate himself to spreading is the idea of order. And if the executions become public again, he will not commit to broadcasting them “for preventive purposes.”
–
–
–
–
Despite his claims of change, the Taliban will by no means renounce the old order, they will simply adapt it to the new reality.
According to Turabi, the cases will now be in the hands of professional judges, among whom he promises to have women. However, the basis of the legislation will remain the Qur’an, and the punishments will be restored to their previous forms.
According to the mullah, the return of sentences such as hand cuts and executions is necessary to maintain security. The question of whether their implementation should continue to be made public is currently being considered, and in Turabi’s words, “policies on this issue are yet to be worked out.”
Some of the public punishments have already returned to Kabul, where the perpetrator is publicly “exposed” for petty offenses. For example, according to the Guardian, petty thieves were tied to the body of a truck and paraded on the streets of the Afghan capital.
In one case, their faces were painted to make themselves more visible as thieves, and in another, a loaf of old bread was hung on a string from the offender’s neck, and a slice was stuffed into his mouth.
–
–
–
–
Although Kabul residents have expressed fears of their new Taliban rulers, some are reluctant to admit that the capital has become more secure in just a month.
“It’s not good to see these people being humiliated in public, but that stops criminals, because when people see that, they think, ‘I don’t want this to be me,'” said Amaan, a shop owner in downtown Kabul.
– .
