A nation under the knife of terror and the yoke of discrimination
I began writing this note about 30 hours after the massacre of residents in Ghor province. I browsed through several media outlets, reading the latest news and reactions. The Taliban are in power, so naturally, a reaction is expected. I visited the website of Bakhtar News Agency, which is controlled by the Taliban, but found no mention of this violent crime. I checked the Twitter feed of the Taliban’s spokesperson but it was silent, too. As the saying goes, “Even stones and trees have raised their voices” but from those who claim to govern the country, neither a word of condolence nor an explanation.
It said that ISIS has claimed responsibility for this tragedy, alleging that its fighters killed 14 Hazara-Shias and wounded six others. ISIS is like a filthy bog – many criminals have committed crimes in its name. Yet, even now, this statement by a suspicious ISIS website does not lessen the Taliban’s responsibility. This is not how ISIS operated in the past. For example, ISIS has never left people wounded after an attack. They are infamous for their suicide bombings, beheadings, taking hostages, and killing every person being targetted.
Taliban opponents, human rights organizations, UNAMA, and Richard Bennett, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Afghanistan have all reacted to this tragedy. But unfortunately, none of these reactions have any effect in the current circumstances. The opponents of the Taliban have neither the capacity to act nor, in the case of the UN, are in a position to pressure the Taliban to provide security for the people. Richard Bennett’s voice fails to resonate in the corridors of diplomacy. The Afghan nation has been abandoned in a pit of terrorism, and, at any moment, another bloody and tragic event could occur somewhere in the country without the perpetrators ever being punished.
The traditional political leaders of Afghanistan, who mostly emerged from the womb of the war against the Soviet Union as well as years of sectarian and ethnic strife, have repeatedly proven that they are not saviours. During the 20 years of the republic leading up to the Taliban’s second emirate, they had only put on the cloak of national politics. For the sake of their short-term personal, family, and factional interests, they showed some interest in democratic mechanisms. In practice, they remained aligned with Taliban ideology. Instead of working to prevent the country from falling into the hands of the Taliban, they engaged in backroom deals, negotiating with their Taliban “brothers” to preserve their own positions and personal wealth. They flocked to meet with Taliban representatives. Even today, they still cling to the false hope of an inclusive government and flirt with the Taliban, begging them for positions and personal safety.
Though human rights organizations and anti-Taliban forces react to the people’s suffering and sacrifices, they have become entangled by prereferral issues of Taliban rule. Every day, they count and respond to the group’s inhumane decrees and oppressive policies while ignoring the core tragedy of the country falling into the grip of regional terrorists. They continue to promote the possibility of “reforming” the Taliban through dialogue.
Right now, dozens of terrorist groups are recruiting, planning, and training in the bosom of the Taliban’s emirate. Every corner of the country has become a training ground for anti-human ideologies. Modern schools have been shut down or neutralized while workplaces and the business environment that bred innovation have collapsed. As a result, despair runs rampant among the youth.
All of this has turned the country into fertile ground for hatred, conflict, and war. It’s possible that the four men who gunned down those travellers in Ghor were students of Taliban madrasas who had gone to the “battlefield” to fulfill a practicum for their religious education. Perhaps these four were local youths, influenced by the Taliban clerics’ terrorist propaganda in schools, madrasas, and mosques to pick up arms to carry out a “religious mission.” These possibilities should not be dismissed as the Taliban are steering the country toward a future rife with discrimination, hostility, and animosity.
The decrees of the Taliban’s leader paint a terrifying picture of the contents of his mind, as well as those of the Taliban’s other powerful figures and followers. In these decrees, there is no room for dialogue, mutual acceptance, respect for differences, or any effort to create a peaceful and prosperous environment. Instead, his orders emphasize conformity, jihadism, repression, and the imposition of restrictions. The inevitable result of these decrees will be an environment perpetually on the verge of explosion and bloodshed.
If events like the recent atrocity in Ghor don’t open our eyes to the larger picture of the catastrophe occuring in Afghanistan but are dismissed as isolated criminal or terrorist incidents that won’t repeat elsewhere or affect other provinces or ethnic groups, or worse, if they aren’t seen as warning signs of a larger problem, then we will remain a people living in ignorance. What happened to those 14 victims on Wednesday could happen to any citizen in any corner of the country; no class or group is safe.
While it is true that women are currently the most oppressed segment of society, and that shias face horrific discrimination and dangers, no group is immune to the poison of Taliban rule. Yes, the tip of the Taliban’s spear of repression is currently aimed at urban dwellers and city culture, but the spiritual and cultural destruction occurring in the cities will eventually spread to the towns and villages. The promotion of jihadism, misogyny, sectarianism, and hostility towards science will transform the villages into even hotter furnaces of hatred, poverty, and ignorance than the cities.
Educated men and women, the media, and those committed to the cause of freedom for the country must not ignore the danger posed by the Taliban. They must work to save the nation from the clutches of terrorism and backwardness. New opportunities come from connections with the outside world and the diaspora community. Over the past few decades, people have experienced first-hand the horrors of war and the crimes of jihadists, which led to a significant collective awakening in the population. We can only hope that this awakening will transform the people into a liberating force.
Younus Negah is a researcher and writer from Afghanistan who is currently in exile in Turkey.
