Posted on 11/11/2001 7:30:12 AM PST by McGruff
Afghans queued at barber shops to shave their beards, music blared from shops and women threw off the head-to-toe burqa veil as Mazar-i-Sharif, the first city taken from the Taliban, escaped their draconian rules, the Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) said on Sunday.
The entry of opposition Northern Alliance forces late on Friday ended the grip of the feared Ministry of the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice -- better known as the religious police -- whose job was to implement harsh rules regarded by the Taliban as embodying the purest form of Islam.
In streets patrolled now by uniformed Northern Alliance fighters, men with beards they have not been allowed to trim for years lined up to shave them off, the Pakistan-based AIP said.
The strains of music played from shops, which were previously only allowed to sell religious chants or martial songs, AIP quoted residents of the city as saying.
Under the Taliban, a man who trimmed his beard could face arrest and several weeks in jail while his beard grew back.
The playing of music brought the penalty of a public lashing, audio cassettes were smashed and the tapes fluttered from telegraph posts in most cities.
In Mazar-i-Sharif on Sunday, songs accompanied by the long-banned instrumentalist backing were playing in restaurants and shops, AIP said.
The Taliban had banned music, deeming it un-Islamic and vulgar and not in keeping with their ideal of setting up the world's purest Muslim state based on a 1,300-year-old Islamic Utopia.
WOMEN COME OUT
Women began to appear on the streets without the concealment of the all-enveloping burqa mandated by the Taliban, AIP said.
But many residents were apprehensive that members of the majority ethnic Pashtun tribe could face reprisals from the Northern Alliance -- composed mainly of minority Uzbeks and Tajiks, AIP said.
The Taliban rules had included bans on lipstick, television, neckties, playing cards and music -- other than religious songs and chants.
But even in the southern city of Kandahar, powerbase of Taliban supreme leader Mullah Mohammad Omar, a sight unseen for more than five years had appeared on the streets in recent weeks -- shops selling music cassettes and even CDs.
Witnesses say the religious police have virtually disappeared there after the ministry building in Kandahar was the target of several U.S. bombs last month.
Television and photographs are banned as part of the Taliban's campaign to create its pure Muslim state. Under that system, iconography is banned and reproduction of images of people and animals falls into that category.
The Taliban believe their rules are based on Islam, but they often seem more rooted in traditions of the Pashtun tribes where the movement finds its main strength.
A ban on Western dress and a demand that men -- even schoolboys -- wear turbans has been justified as a tradition of Mohammad
They're called gungrabbers/drugwarriors.
...Huh? Of course there are some gargoyles in the crowd - but many Afghani Women are VERY beautiful and personable. And a lot are what we would call stunning in their beauty. Sans the sacks of course..."
Now djk, you finish reading what I wrote. That was a 'what might have happened, but didn't' scenario. I ended my post with a compliment to them for keeping themselves up.
You get these women chasing after me and I'm going to lead them straight to your hut...
Ding, dong the witch is dead!
This whole scene described reminds me of Return of the Jedi: Special Edition, with the citizens celebrating the death of the Emperor and the defeat of his fleet at Endor all across the Empire. Maybe there's a big statute of Bin Laden or Omar that the people can tear down??
Good news indeed. Better be careful though, that FREEDOM thing is catching.
Maybe more will get it. And soon.
Its hard to get fat on 250 calories a day.
You just had to say that, didn't you? Now, I have this image stuck in my head of Northern Alliance guys standing triumphantly on their Russian tanks, AK-47s high above their heads, with huge speakers attached to the turrets, blasting "Who let the dogs out? WOOF WOOF WOOF WOOF!"
:-(
How about a arms-for-beards exchange? Anyone who comes in for a shave gets a gun of their choice. These guys have some incentive to prevent the Taliban from retaking the city.
Didn't you read in the National Enquirer (or one of those tabloids, saw it myself in the grocery store checkout line) that Osama-baby was using his Timex to send out secret code as he was being videotaped???? Sheesh. Nobody knows anything around here.
Grinning ;^)
Hmmm...
I realize that the propaganda line is that they're starving and it's somehow the fault of: (plug in the 'bad guy' du jour)
And I'm sure that their diet isn't as good as my dog's diet is. (but it should be noted that my dog is extremely pampered in this respect)
Nevertheless, I'll bet there's some fat ones there.
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A Kabul resident shaves off his beard, mandated by the city's former rulers, in a barber shop after Taliban forces vacated the Afghan capital November 13, 2001. Greeted by cheering residents, opposition fighters captured Afghanistan's capital Kabul on Tuesday in defiance of international pressure to stay out, after the city was abandoned by the Taliban under the cover of darkness. REUTERS/Sayed Salahuddin - Nov 13 1:00 PM ET |
It was ever thus. We're real unpopular among those who have the luxury of imagining their comfortable situation to be "oppression," having never tasted the real thing. The rest kind of like the taste of freedom. But don't worry - twenty years from now if the Afghanis are very lucky and things go well for them, their college students will hate us again.
Let's just hope they didn't try to pay for it with a check! Should have used their Visa Check Card! :)
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