Posted on 08/09/2002 2:18:05 PM PDT by mhking
Posted 9:08 PM by Amir Butler | link
I've received an outraged response from all political persuasions over my daring comments on the Taliban. Rob of Mentalspace has this to say about my recent Taliban comments. My words apparently drove him to a point he never thought he could reach - calling the Taliban islamofascists. Whackinday.com has called me an "evil prick". James Morrow of the Weekly James says I have lost touch with reality and hit a new low with these comments.
The fundamental question is: were the Taliban better than what was there before and are they better than what is there now? The answer, in my opinion, remains yes.
If people understood the situation in which the Taliban were born, it would place the movement in its proper context. They didn't begin with the intent of taking over Afghanistan but rather began as a grassroots movement of sorts in response to communal lawlessness. The transformation of Afghanistan into a living hell was carried out by the very same people that are now in positions of power in the Afghan government.
As Fisk writes of their origins:
Around him, Afghanistan was disintegrating into anarchy, Pashtuns and Tajiks and Uzbeks and Hazaras fighting each other as the Northern Alliance - our "allies" in our "war for civilisation" today - raped and pillaged Kabul. Mullah Omar called them, "a criminal and treacherous group who sold themselves and their country to foreign colonialists''. He would say the same today.The murder and rape of women - and boys - in Kandahar enraged the young cleric. The opium trade had corrupted the city.
The first incident in which he became actively involved, the crucible in the foundation of the Taliban, followed the kidnap of two teenage girls who had their heads shaved and were then gang-raped in the barracks of a local militia leader. With 30 of his students and just 16 rifles, he rescued the girls and hanged one of the rapists from a tank.
Since the ban imposed by Taliban supreme leader Mullah Mohammad Omar in July 2000, areas of Afghanistan under the control of the Islamist militia have witnessed a remarkable transformation as opium poppy cultivation has almost totally disappeared. This has resulted in some 70% of the world's illicit opium production being wiped out virtually at a stroke.
Of course, under the leadership of the smartly dressed Hamid Karzai (pimps and drug dealers always dress well), the drugs are back and we can expect the "heroin drought" to soon end.
The incessent whinging about the burqa and the ban on flying kites is a useful instrument for people who really don't care to find out the facts of the matter. The burqa, for instance, has always been a fundamental feature of Afghan culture. It remains so today. In fact, more women are putting it on now to avoid being raped by the Northern Alliance forces.
At the very least, if someone wants to really understand the situation in Afghanistan, they should look to people who have been there. Take Yvonne Ridley, the British journalist who was held for spying by the Taliban. One would expect her ordeal to have made her a vehement opponent of the regime, instead she become one of its more outspoken and prolific defenders. As she told a gathering at the University of Technology in Sydney a couple of months ago:
She said the Taliban were demonised at every opportunity: "On one occasion Tony Blair said these people are evil because they won't let children fly kites but the reason for this was that there were kids who were flying kites into power lines and getting electrocuted and plunging areas into darkness for two or three days and the Taliban got fed up with this and said no more kite flying in those areas, very much in the same way as in Britain at every housing estate there's a sign up saying no ball games."
That said, the Taliban were not without their faults. Noone is saying they were perfect. However, as I have said, the fundamental question is: were they better than what was there before and were they better than what is there now? The answer is obviously yes.
His entire site is worth a laugh or three.
Guy is in Australia. Pascoe Vale South, seems close to Melbourne. They have their talibans too, it seems....
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