There is never a news broadcast that doesn’t mention the Taliban. They attacked or were driven back. Ever wonder who they are? Let me explain. The name “Taliban” is plural for the Islamic word “talib” which means student. The Taliban then, started out as Islamic students, who were in no way ’students,’ but sort of orphaned offspring of the Soviet wars, who decided to purify Afghanistan, Islamize it, and distance themselves from the party line of the Mujahidin. In December 1979, The Soviets foolishly attacked Afghanistan. The CIA (can’t identify anything) promptly began sending money to Afghanistan to help them fight the Ruskies. The then in power government in Afghanistan, were the Mujahidin. Don’t let that stick in your head too long though, because power cliques and governments come and go in Afghanistan like summer storms. To get along with the story, the Soviets lost. Kandahar is the second largest city in Afghanistan, and this is where the Taliban got started, after the Soviets left with their tails between their legs. Kandahar is noted for its wonderful fruit orchards, watered by a complex systems of canals. The Russians destroyed everything they touched, and left Kandahar’s orchards, utterly destroyed. When the natives returned, the trees were gone, but the place was ideal for growing poppies for a livelihood. Afghanistan, after the Russians left was in total disarray and disintegration. It was ruled by various warlords and violent thugs who sold everything they could get their hands on to sell…usually to neighboring Pakistan. Telephone wires, copper pipes, and anything that could be stripped, was sold. Factories, farms, homes were seized and sold. Girls and boys were raped and sodomized, merchants robbed and thrown out in the streets. Afghanistan is still ruled by warlords, regardless of what the news may say.
The young kids participated in this destruction, and immediately thought that was the way life was supposed to be. The schools, families and businesses had been destroyed, so these kids had no sense of loyalty, history, or even the most basic love and consideration of others. Violence was all they knew. They had no real leader, but became loosely organized, and to skip a lot of details, in October of 1994, 200 of them attacked a garrison near a near worthless town called Spin-Baldak, which is on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. With help from Pakistan, they captured a large, abandoned Soviet ammunition dump which contained 18,000 Kalashnikovs, dozens of artillery pieces, ammunition, and many vehicles. They were suddenly well armed, but still totally uneducated, mostly illiterate, and had turned into total brutes, of the kind we can only shudder at the thought of, so inhuman had they become. A month later, they attacked Kandahar and succeeded in taking that big city in just a couple of weeks. Wow! Thousands of other young Afghans joined this new, young, illiterate group of animals. They were off on the most unbelievable of power trips.
Immediately, thanks to their few adult leaders, they instituted the strictest interpretation of Islamic Sharia law ever seen in the Muslim world. All girls schools were closed down, women were banned from working outside the home, all TV sets and radios were smashed, men were instructed to grow long beards, and sports and recreational activities were banned. Within three months, the new ’Taliban’ had grown, and taken control of 12 of Afghanistan’s 31 provinces. By March of 1995, with their new found power, tens of thousands of students and other brainwashed youth had joined them and their pseudo-leader, Mullah Omar. Their average ages were from 14 to 24. They had no memories of the Soviets for the most part, had no plans for the future, and the present was everything. They were rootless, restless, jobless, and their brains were chock full of a simplistic belief in a messianic, puritan, Islam, which had been ingrained into their young brains by village mullahs. They knew nothing about their forefathers’ skills of farming, herding, handicrafts, or doing even the most basic skills required in making a productive life for themselves. These kids had never known the company of women, and regarded them as threats. The Taliban were in direct conflict with basic Islamic law.
Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Iran became patrons of the Taliban. Pakistan provided radios and wireless communications, and the Saudis provided hundreds of Jap pickup trucks, which became their main system of transport. Eventually, they captured the capital city Kabul, and the strictest practices of the Sharia went into effect. No women were to work, and all were to be totally covered with burkas. Girls schools and colleges were shut down, which had more than 70,000 students. Most of the government offices were manned by women, who were instantly out of work. Every day, more pronouncements were broadcast from the towers, such as ’thieves will have their hands and feet amputated, adulterers will be stoned to death, and those taking liquor will be lashed.’ Starvation became common, and soldiers arrested men who had no beard. Torture of the most disgusting form became common as well as beheading. Afghanistan became a nation which was totally un-governed, and run by thousands of young, armed to the teeth, thugs. Before the Taliban, extremist Islam never flourished in Afghanistan.
In May 1996, Osmaa bin Laden arrived in Kabul in a chartered jet, with dozens of Arab militants, three wives, and 13 children. He moved to Kandahar and was protected by the Taliban, while also being monitored by the CIA. They knew where he was, and maybe still do for all I know. Afghanistan is so convoluted, out of control by anyone, and run by sheer fratricidal warfare and warlords, that there is really no solution, and American messing around, can and probably will, go on for decades with no tangible results.
Today, the Taliban refuse to define the Afghan state they supposedly want to control and rule over, because they have no idea of what they want, have no central authority, organization, or even modus operendi for what they do or want. Violence and brutality is their total stock in trade. They build no schools, hospitals, water supply systems, or anything remotely related to civic development. The Taliban, basically, are ruled by lust, violence, and attempting to take control over anything they choose, with the most uncivilized, brutal methods. With their lack of plans, leadership, organization and central authority, they often lose their battles, and have aroused the contempt of the civilized world. It’s a sad situation, started in part, and helped along, by our CIA.
Pakistan is fighting two wars, Afghanistan and Kashmir, and neither is any of our business. Islamic fundamentalism, drugs, weapons, and social breakdown are common to both, and American interference is doing more harm than good. The Soviets lost, and they were very close. America’s headquarters is tens of thousands of miles away, and we should get out, because it is none of our business, and is causing Muslim hatred of America, which is understandable. I urge you to go to ’Archives’ on the web site and read the column from Feb 17th, titled “100,000 Troops.”
The point of this is that every time America messes in the business of other nations, it is sure to go awry, and cost us in prestige, lives, and lots of dollars. There are thousands of problem spots in the world, and if they’re outside of our fifty states, we should simply keep our mouths and check books shut, and stay home. Cops dread being called to a domestic disturbance, because there are two sides to every argument. There are many sides to thousands of the world’s disturbances, just like a domestic fight between husband and wife, and they should be left to solve it themselves, without our getting involved. Why is it that America can see no beauty in neutrality or the value of gold and silver? I have no idea. Why is there a CIA? I can see no reason for its existence.