The Taliban want the world to think they’ve changed. Early signs suggest otherwise
Under the Taliban’s rule between 1996 and 2001, brutal floggings, amputations and public executions were common. Women were largely confined to their homes, and the death penalty was in place for offenses including female adultery, homosexuality and the rejection of Islam.
With the glare of the media again on Kabul, and Western forces staging a hasty retreat, the world is anxiously waiting to discover whether the new Taliban era will see a return to those days.
The militants have so far sought to present an image of themselves as more progressive, inclusive and restrained than the group that terrorized communities two decades ago — claiming that they will not seek retribution against their political enemies, and that women will play an important role in society and have access to education.
But every pledge has been caveated by a reminder of the Taliban’s “core values” — a strict interpretation of Sharia law, which experts say has not been drastically re-imagined in the space of 20 years.
The group’s co-founder and deputy leader Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar arrived in Afghanistan Tuesday for the first time since he played a key role the last Taliban government — a sign that the influence of the Taliban’s old guard has not diminished.
And their early actions have dashed many Afghans’ hopes that the Taliban might have changed in the intervening decades.
The group’s fighters clashed with activists during the first major protest against their new regime on Wednesday, three witnesses told CNN, firing guns into a crowd and beating demonstrators in the city of Jalalabad.
Attacks on women across the country in recent weeks, as the Taliban regained the ascendency in Afghanistan’s provinces, have provided a chilling preview of what may be in store for millions.
Who’s in charge of the Taliban?
While Akhundzada was involved in the mujahideen struggle against the Soviet invasion in the 1980s, Agha said he was unlikely to have participated in front line military activities. He did judicial work between 1996 and 2001, the period of Taliban rule in Afghanistan, and after the group’s fall from power in late 2001 he worked as Taliban chief justice, according to Agha.
Akhundzada has two deputies. One, Maulvi Mohammad Yaqub, is the head of the Taliban’s military commission; on Tuesday he told fighters not to enter locals’ homes or seize their assets, in a message distributed widely on the group’s channels. He added in the message that “things will be decided later in an organized way on the leadership level.”
The return of Taliban co-founder Baradar, a jihadi cleric who played a prominent role in their last government, to Afghanistan was confirmed by a spokesman for the Taliban’s political bureau on Tuesday.
It marks the first time Baradar has set foot in the country for 20 years, and comes 11 years after he was arrested in neighboring Pakistan by the country’s security forces.
The Taliban have a number of different formal commissions for political, intelligence, military and cultural matters.
Their Preaching and Guidance Commission has met with surrendered Afghan soldiers, officers and politicians in recent days and is behind the group’s pledge of amnesty for those involved in the US-backed government.
The Taliban also have a political office in Doha, Qatar, which will likely play a far more visible role on the world stage when the group controls Afghanistan’s government.
What will a Taliban regime look like?
Members of the Taliban’s sophisticated communications operation have been increasingly visible in the first days of the new regime, telling international journalists at every opportunity that the group will form an “inclusive Islamic government.”
Key among their promises is that the rights of women will be protected. But when pressed on those assurances at a media conference on Tuesday, the group’s spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said that role would be “within the framework of Sharia law … in all sectors in society, where they are required, it will be within this framework.”
It is questionable whether the Taliban’s harsh interpretation of Sharia law, a set of principles that govern the moral and religious lives of Muslims, has drastically changed in the past two decades.
Sharia law was established 1,400 years ago and can only be amended or updated with extreme care by religious scholars, experts in the region told CNN.
When last in power, the Taliban used Sharia law as justification for scores of violent and repressive punishments, including public executions. Alleged adulterers were stoned to death and suspected theft punished by amputation.
Whether such brutal methods will resume is unclear — but concerning signs are already emerging. Human Rights Watch said last month that advancing Taliban forces were targeting critics for attack, despite public promises that they had ordered fighters to act with restraint.
The international community has largely greeted the Taliban’s pledges with skepticism.
“Taliban spokespeople have issued a number of statements in recent days, including pledging an amnesty for those who worked for the previous Government,” the UN’s High Commissioner for Human Rights, Rupert Colville, said in a statement on Tuesday.
“They have also pledged to be inclusive. They have said women can work and girls can go to school. Such promises will need to be honoured, and for the time being — again understandably, given past history — these declarations have been greeted with some skepticism. Nevertheless, the promises have been made, and whether or not they are honoured or broken will be closely scrutinized,” he said.
“We call on the Taliban to demonstrate through their actions, not just their words, that the fears for the safety of so many people from so many different walks of life are addressed.”
