The will of the people?

By Amira Howeidy

The 41-year-old Taliban leader refused to have his picture taken, as photography is viewed as sinful by his movement.

Excerpts:

How did the Taliban, a group of young students from the religious schools, manage to control 90 per cent of Afghanistan in just two years?
First of all, it is important to note that the Afghan community attaches a lot of importance to religion. The religious authority in Afghanistan is more powerful than in other communities. Secondly, there has been continuous fighting in the country for the last 20 years. First it was with the Russians, then the communist regime.

After the Islamic Revolution in 1992, the different Afghan factions turned the guns on each other. By 1993, this had escalated into heavy fighting. During the jihad against the Russians and then the communist regime, the leaders of what was to become the Taliban had been members of different political factions. Some of them were commanders and strong fighters. As the fighting escalated between the different factions, the people who were later to become Taliban leaders resigned from their parties.

By that time, the situation was out of control. Almost each province of the country was controlled by a different faction. There was complete chaos and the people were fed up with the different militias.

Strong traditions also served to heighten the conflict. It is a custom in Afghanistan that if someone kills another person, the vendetta by the victim's family can go beyond killing only the murderer to include as many people as possible from the culprit's family. So at one stage, so many people were getting killed in such vendettas. Adultery had also become widespread. In short, the country was an unsafe place.

The population was very unhappy about the situation. The mullahs were thinking of how to save the country from total collapse. Gradually, an underground movement began to develop among these mullahs and the commanders.

It is important to point out here that the Taliban polled as many Afghanis as possible about the ruling system they desired. In the end, there was consensus on four objectives: maintaining security; clearing the country of arms; implementing the Islamic shari'a; and defeating the other factions. So our targets were also the targets of the Afghan people. Since what we are doing is the will of the people, the international community must support us. We are talking about a country that has lost two million people in wars; a country whose infrastructure has been reduced to rubble; a destroyed country. We wanted to put an end to this.

How did the purportedly poor Taliban movement finance itself from 1994 to 1996 when it took over Kabul?
It is true that at first the Taliban was very poor. Food and clothing were provided by the inhabitants of the areas we were taking over. Moreover, there was some revenue from agricultural production. There was also income from customs duties collected along the borders of the areas we had captured.

But there are accusations that the Taliban received financial support from Pakistan.

We did not receive any financial support from Pakistan or any other country.

Yet Pakistan has strong interests in Afghanistan...
Of course there are very close ties between Pakistan and Afghanistan. It is also a known fact that there are problems between Pakistan and India because of Kashmir. The former Afghan government of Rabbani was very close to the Indian regime, while his relations with Pakistan were lukewarm.

Then there is the strategic aspect to our shared interests. The central Asian countries such as Uzbekistan, Tajikstan, Turkmenstan will replace the Gulf countries as the main source of oil in the future. Central Asia is also a good business market for Pakistan. Afghanistan is the only gateway there.

There are also Pashtoun people living along the northwestern side of our borders with Pakistan. They are very powerful in Pakistani decision-making. Both the Pakistani minister of defence and the chief of staff are Pashtoun. Nine of the most effective parties in Pakistan support the Taliban.

The recent tension between Iran and the Taliban, some argue, was not simply about the assassination of nine Iranian diplomats. Is that true?
It is true that the problem with Iran is not what it seems to be.

Tehran does not want peace in Afghanistan because it wants the would-be gas pipeline extending from Turkmenstan to the Persian Gulf to cross Iran. Geographically, it is more logical for the pipeline to cross Afghanistan. But then if there is tension and war in our country, who would want to put such a multi-million dollar project on our land?

So the real issue here is that there is political and economic competition between us and Iran.

The Taliban recently missed the opportunity to take over Afghanistan's UN seat, which is still occupied by the opposition. One reason for this was your refusal to expel the Saudi terrorist suspect Osama Bin Laden. What are you doing to win the recognition of the international community?
First of all, Bin Laden was residing in Afghanistan long before the Taliban came to power. But then, what is the international community's criteria for recognising the Taliban regime? We believe that even if we expel Bin Laden, we will not be recognised.

Saudi Arabia has recalled its chargé d'affaires from Afghanistan and has threatened to boycott your regime unless you expel Bin Laden. That would leave you with only the recognition of Pakistan and the UAE.
We think that there is immense exaggeration when it comes to this issue of Bin Laden. But I am not in a position to comment further on it.

There is also international concern over the situation of women and the increasing cultivation of drugs in Afghanistan, which seems at odds with your strict application of shari'a.
The Taliban are not against the education of women. They are allowed to work as nurses and in the medical field. There are no other professions for women to work in to start with.

On drugs, we believe that cultivation of heroin is not haram (prohibited by Islam). There are several medicines that need a certain amount of drugs in their ingredients. This applies to grapes, too. Grapes can be eaten as fruits, but can also be used in the production of spirits, which is haram.

However, the Taliban has said it is willing to put an end to drug cultivation in return for international recognition.

Are you blackmailing the international community?
Well, our people are very poor. They make a living out of cultivating opium and heroin. How will they survive if we forbid them to cultivate these drugs?

If the international community is willing to support them financially, we will stop this type of cultivation.